Colazione: A Guide to the Italian Breakfast
I am truly not sure why, but breakfast in Italy is sweet. Cake is a traditional breakfast food, and so are cookies. We are always a bit stunned when we hear Americans making fun of the concept of cake for breakfast, mostly because that’s the norm for us!
A selection of typical Italian breakfast cookies!
Whereas the French will indulge in omelet or crepes and fresh fruit along with croissant and jam, and Germans will add ham to their toasts, in Italy there is no tradition whatsoever of savory foods on the breakfast table. Continental breakfast is a concept we embrace to the tee! Even fruit is looked upon with suspicion! The typical Italian breakfast is made of a hot beverage, like cappuccino or caffe’, with something sweet to eat- cake, cookies, pastries, brioche, croissants, or toast and jam.
When at home, caffelatte and coffee made with the moka are the more common choices for drinks, and usually small breakfast cookies (Mulino Bianco, anyone?) provide the sugar rush. Cereals are available on the shelves in the grocery store, but mostly eaten as an afternoon snack, not for breakfast! Italians often consume their breakfast out- the thousands of bars you will walk by everywhere in Italy serve cappuccino and paste (brioches, or bomboloni) for a breakfast you can conveniently consume while standing at the counter!
Eggs? Ham? Bacon? THOSE ARE DINNER FOODS! (It seems to hear grandma!)
In the Bay Area you can indulge in a perfect, Italian style breakfast at Emporio Rulli. My favorite is the one in Larkspur, but all locations will really work out for my monthly fix of bomboloni con la crema! You can also find bombolni at I Preferiti di Boriana at the Ferry Building, and a good breakfast can be snatched at Cocola.
Filed under: Culinary Culture
Hi Vanessa
My family (both sets of grandparents) were from Italy and I always remember staying over their houses and having something sweet for breakfast. This brings back good memories. I live in Boston and there are a few places in the North End to go for some good Italian breakfast.
@mfusco
Both my parents were born in Sicily. I don’t remember having sweet things for breakfast. What really sticks in my mind was having hard homemade bread broken up in a bowl with sugar and milk. Sometimes, my father would pour some of his coffee in the bowl which was a treat for me. I guess we must have been poor!
[...] a hold of the butter-heavy French croissants and the American fascination with buttercream: all I ever want for breakfast is either a bombolone or a cornetto, croissant-shaped pastry roll filled with custard. Not much to [...]
Hey Vanessa!
I was actually very surprised to read this. My grandfather, who is 100% Italian and whose parents were right off the boat, grew up in East Boston. I don’t think he told me that he ate anything “sweet” for breakfast every morning…. Do you think that maybe foods differ from region to region? My family is from a little place near Napoli, so it could be different from you.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Hello Hannah,
Italian traditions and Italian-American traditions started diverging with the landing of the first wave of Italian immigrants in the US! In addition, before WWII there was no sugar to go around for anyone- but breakfast before the well-beings of the post war years was stale bread in milk pretty much all over Italy. Each family, then, carries on its own traditions, but in modern Italy breakfast is sweet all around- in Southern Italy even gelato is considered breakfast food!
Ciao!
Vanessa
Hi, I’m sicilian, and yes our breakfast is usually sweet, with cornetti (croissants) with chocolate, cream or apricot marmalade, cup of milk and coffe, cereals and orange juice. But here in Sicily, we have breakfast also with granita (MMMMMMMMM!!!), but it’s only in Sicily, the original ^_^.
Granita is my favourite summer-breakfast, because it is like granular ice drink (sicilian ice) but a little creamy, so Not with grains frozen. It is made by a special machine (with water, sugar, almonds, and sometimes also honey) and accompanied by a brioche made with eggs, and teaspoon, slurp!!!!
There are many flavors, usually almond, chocolate, coffee and pistachio di Bronte, etc…
Only in Sicily there is the original granita, and it’s very good…very popular sicilian summer breakfast.
See >>>http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granita_siciliana
Other type of breakfast is Tavola calda, like salad snacks popular in oriental Sicily, only in piana di Catania, very famous arancini with rice and ragù or with butter (arancini are also in Palermo), cartocciate with jam, cheese and pomodoro sauce or mushrooms, bolognesi, siciliane, patè, pizzette, cipolline etc… so good, appetizing!!!
See >>>http://www.bardelsole.it/images/Tavola%20Calda.jpg
These are our italian (sicilian) types of breakfast, sweet but also salad! ^_^
An sicilian kiss to you!!!
Hi! My family is from Tuscany: my father is actually from there and I have been several times. Although I remember my father’s pitiful attempts to make paste while living in Oklahoma, when I visit my Nonna in Italy, she usually makes a frittata or serves fresh fruit. Sometimes my Nonno will go out early in the morning to bring back paste, but that’s a treat. Is it different in Tuscany, specifically Pontedera, than from where you’re from? Thanks!
Hello Elizabeth,
My mother is from Arezzo, a few miles from Pontedera, and the everyday breakfast is always the same- cookies and caffelatte in most of the households. You’d only eat paste outside, if you have breakfast at a cafe, but not at home- you are right, having paste at home is one of those luxury! All over Italy, the sweet breakfast is a staple of the diet- it is testified by the tons of different breakfast cookies you’ll find in any grocery store, and the variety of pastries in any cafe (bar) around town. I have never heard of frittata for breakfast- frittata is widely considered a dinner food!
Once again, please consider age- if you’re in your thirties your grandparents will have very different traditions than if you’re in your fifties…
Ciao!
Vanessa
Hi,
I’m Andrea, I grew up in Sicily and now I live in Pisa… few km far from Pontedera
In both cases (Sicily and Tuscany), the breakfast is *rigorously* sweet. Often we (I and my friends) wonder about how can be a salt breakfast: simply it is out of our way of live the breakfast.
At home, I eat a caffelatte with some Pan Di Stelle (alternatively, Pavesi’s Gocciole); at bar, I get a Cappuccino and some pastries, so… I entirely agree with the article
And yes, in summertime the best breakfast is a good lemon granita, with a delicious brioche
Ciao Andrea- this is really funny! I know that often in some areas in the South breakfast can be ice cream or granita… I could never quite persuade my parents to go THAT sweet…
and, BTW, I LOVE Pan Di Stelle- so hard to find here!
This is so fascinating. I’m not Italian, I’m American (Indian origin, India), but I’m very interested in how people live in different parts of Europe and Japan, because the health in these places, on average, is better than in America. Obescity doens’t give full picture, but obescity rate in Italy is about 9% and Japan5% and Korea, even lower..3 or 4%. In America, it is over 30%. Being a holistic health counselor, and I love to learn and observe, i’m very curious.
I’m a little surprised the breakfast in Italy is sweet considering the low obescity rate. Perhaps it is beause everything is fresh..not as processed (like butter, dairy)? Lots of walking? Less sweet foods later in the day?
Can anyone comment? Maybe i need to look at lunch and dinner in Italy next
Just trying to get general idea.
Do people smoke a lot in Italy like in France, Germany? With the sweet breakfast, i wonder if diabetes is a problem? Maybe not.. the breakfast alone, of course, does not give full picture. And maybe it is the quality of the foods. Here in America..everything is highy processed. All breads are made fast..with yeast. Not old way. How about in Italy?
Oh..and in America people eat fast..people eat to quickly get it out of the way. so they can get back to work. they eat chemicalized junk..not fresh. I think this will change..i want to write a book about how people are eating and what they are eating in other countries. To help americans understand the damage they are doing to themselves eating the nasty foods made by large corporations whols one and only goal is to make profit.
I know it’s a lot of questions
Just curious. Oh.and i LOVE lasagna..good sauce, perfect, soft noodle, and meat..mmm 
Also love cafe Latte.
Also in France they use full fat butter, cream, cheese, and dairy. so tasty.. here in america dairy is highly processed..lots of skim milk…everything is fortified. no enzymes in the cheese..etc. lucky we have healthy options. but most american’s are unaware.
you should put more on it
[...] have received many comments incredulous about my first post about the typical Italian breakfast. All Italians who have responded confirm that breakfast is sweet, but everyone who was raised in [...]
[...] breakfast as well, as the cappuccino and espresso are just great- not to mention the staple of the Italian breakfast, the cornetto (aka: Italian croissant). Rocco spins the cornetti in their delicious Nutella [...]