On Easter Day, you’ll likely find Colomba Easter Bread (Pane di Pasqua) at dinner tables all over Italy, from north to south. The bread is one of the first signs that spring has arrived. And despite most offices and retail shops closing up for the public holiday, bakeries remain open on Easter morning in Italy so customers can purchase this Italian Easter tradition to take home for dinner. Along with large, elegantly-wrapped chocolate eggs, the bread is also a favorite gift for good friends and relatives. 

Although less well-known than its Christmas cousins (Panettone and Pandoro), both holiday treats are made from a similar dough of flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and natural yeast. Because this dough is sweet, soft, fluffy, and cake-like, Colomba is sometimes called Easter cake. The dough is often laced with candied fruit.