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Panettone, pandoro, and colomba are cakes that any Italian can recognize with his eyes closed! The aroma of each is just that distinctive. These cakes are never missing from an Italian's holiday table--panettone and pandoro at Christmas time and colomba for Easter.
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Italy is home to some of the world's finest chocolate companies, like Caffarel, Ferrero, Majani, Novi, Pernigotti, Perugina, Peyrano, Vanini and Venchi. Just one region of Italy--Piemonte--is home to more master chocolatiers than Belgium and France combined!
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Over the centuries, every region, city, and even the smallest villages in Italy have created their own special sweets. What unifies all Italian sweets is the use of local ingredients such as Italy's famed honey, nuts, eggs, butter, and milk.
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Over the centuries, the Italians have focused on three products to create their sweets: honey, cane sugar and beet sugar. Honey, popular since ancient Roman times but very costly, was often combined with dry fig paste and concentrated fruit syrups to extend it. Cane sugar was introduced into Sicily by the Arabs, and, along with beet sugar, provided an alternative to the more costly honey.
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Why "Made-in-Italy" is Important
 To ensure that you are not disappointed with the quality of your Italian dessert, be sure to check that it is made in Italy.
Italian sweets makers listed on this website all follow a strict "Code of Practice," which defines the types of ingredients, production process, and labeling prerequisites they may use. This is a part of a program spearheaded by the Italian Confectioners Association, whose aim is to preserve, safeguard, and promote centuries-old Italian cookie and cake recipes.
Especially protected products are amaretti, colomba, pandoro, panettone, and savoiardi. The Italian government has classified these particular confections with Denominazione Riservata status. In essence, what that means is that for a company to call a product by the names "amaretti, "colomba, "pandoro, "panettone, or "savoiardi," they must be made according to a very strict set of criteria. Specific rules dictate every facet of their production including baking methods and the quality and quantity of key ingredients used.
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