The history of Christmas panettone

This traditional festive treat became popular in the mid-19th century but did not take its current form until the 20th century

Ana Vega Pérez de Arlucea

Madrid

Friday, 20 December 2024, 18:08

Alberto Grandi, a professor of Economic History at the University of Parma and an enthusiast of debunking culinary myths, told the Financial Times last year that pizza was born in New York. To the horror of his fellow Italians, he also stated that tiramisu and panettone—panetone in Spanish—are modern inventions. Regarding the latter, this Christmas icon, he specified that up until the 1920s, it was a "flat and hard bread with a handful of raisins" and that its current texture and shape are an industrial creation by the Motta brand, founded in Milan in 1919.

Motta has repeatedly claimed that before Angelo Motta founded his company, panettone was a disaster. This doesn't seem to be the case with the one depicted in the still life painting by the Modenese artist Eugenio de Giacomi in 1901. Nor do the ones seen in various posters and advertisements from the late 19th century. The panettones of that era were wider and slightly shorter than the ones today, with a prominently marked cross-cut on the top.

The tall, cylindrical shape they now have is due to the paper cases that allowed for large-scale production without the need for metal moulds. The older panettones, by contrast, were enormous, verging on gigantic. Even its name reflects its generous size: panettone is the Italian adaptation of the Lombard panaton, complete with an augmentative suffix. A massive bread, a super loaf, an epic bread roll.

That the Milanese panettone became a worldwide success instead of one of its close relatives was by chance... and marketing. The pani grossi or panatoni made with butter, raisins, and spices, which were known for more than 400 years (the oldest recipe dates back to 1853), were predominantly a local Christmas dessert until the emergence of café-pastry shops in Milan. Paolo Biffi opened his café there in 1852 and by 1872 even the Spanish press spoke of him as the man who had "made the panattone famous around the world" (sic). An official supplier to the Pope and King Victor Emmanuel, Don Paolo would send gigantic panettones to celebrities of the time at Christmas.

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