Brightly colored cellophane has been taunting me. Italian Easter eggs are large, in charge and unavoidable.
Walking down the street, riding the bus, on the metro: it seems like everyone has huge Easter eggs peeking out of their bags. Giant, chocolate, eggs.
The phenomenon seems on par with the panettone craze that struck everyone at Christmas time. And who am I to fight tradition? I had to buy one.
“LOOK!” I literally squealed at the display in the supermercato. “Sorpresa! There is a surprise inside!”
I was warned that I had to wait until Easter day to unwrap it.
Yeah. Right. If there is chocolate in the house, it will be opened.
And this is the great thing about Italian Easter eggs… they are primarily chocolate. In fact, the Italian version of these holiday sweets is the exact opposite to American Easter eggs. Whereas American eggs tend to be made of plastic and then filled with small candies, Italian Easter eggs are made of chocolate and filled with plastic.
I’m not going to lie, I got a little excited about the surprise. What could it be?!?
A non-functional, teeny slinky? Lame.
At least the chocolate egg was tasty.
However, the more you spend on the Italian Easter egg, the better the prize and the superior the quality of chocolate. In the weeks leading up to the holiday, supermarkets build towers of the brightly wrapped eggs which have different themes and are often marketed as being specifically for boys or girls. You can also find specialty versions of the eggs at pastry shops.
Even as an adult, I feel completely entitled to partake in all the kiddy traditions because they weren’t a part of my American childhood.
Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter!
(P.S. The one thing I miss a bit is dying Easter eggs. However, most eggs in Italy have a brown shell which is difficult to color. There is a rumor that Lidl has white-shell eggs in case you are hoping to recreate this tradition while living abroad).
happy easter!!!
I love those eggs 🙂
Just wondering, what do you study in Rome? It’s just that I wanted to study abroad too, but I was told that it would be pointless to study in Rome since you were only allowed to pursue a couple of specific degrees.
Happy Easter !
In Germany (where I spent a good chunk of my childhood 🙂 ) there’s these things called ‘Uberraschungseier’ or surprise eggs which are very similar to this Italian one. But you’re able to purchase them year round! haha
Anyways, have a lovely Easter in Rome!
xx
Some of the eggs were enormous weren’t they. imagine what sort of gift they contained!
adooooor le uova di pasqua!!! che bei ricordi d’infanzia!! anche se mamma me lo regala ancora oggi ^^ :p
some years ago my mother received an egg that mesured 120 cm!!
but we eat it in less than a week :p
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“la sorpresa” inside easter eggs is often a matter of mockery. People expect it to be “lame”, as you said. I think that’s part of the tradition as well, because a nice surprise wouldn’t be part of the game, strange to say. In fact there is a very common sentence used (better said: screamed) when you see somebody driving their car poorly: “where did you find your licence, inside easter egg?”
Love love love this! Have never heard about the license saying! (But I don’t drive in Rome…)
This is fantastic. Can you share the phrase for those of us working to get our Italian up to speed?
Ciao! Italian Easter eggs are simply known as “uova di Pasqua” 🙂
Thank you!! I have an Sicilian friend living in Nevada who is sad she can’t find giant eggs here and I was curious what Italian Easter eggs were like. I’m on the hunt to get some here for Easter now.
Are these Italian eggs available in the US?
I don’t think the ones with toys are allowed because they are considered choking hazards (or that is what I heard about Kinder), but you should be able to find some nice chocolate ones via Eataly.