Chiacchiere are the traditional dessert of Carnevale. With ancient roots and many regional names, they appear on tables and in pastry shop windows all across Italy during the Carnival season.
Like many traditional recipes, their origins are old. What makes chiacchiere especially fascinating is that nearly every region calls them by a different name.
Let’s discover them together.
Origins and Legends
The origins of chiacchiere date back to Ancient Rome. At the time, they were known as fritcilia and were fried in pork fat. Large quantities were prepared during the Saturnalia, a festive period that, in Christian tradition, later aligned with Lent.
The word chiacchiere literally means light conversations among friends.
There is also a popular anecdote tied to Naples. According to legend, a Queen of Savoy, after a long afternoon of conversation, suddenly felt hungry. She asked the court cook to prepare something small to eat “between one conversation and another.” From that moment on, the sweets became known as chiacchiere.
True or not, the story adds charm to a dessert already rich in tradition.
Chiacchiere di Carnevale: Many Names, One Sweet
Over time, chiacchiere became the symbolic sweet of Carnevale. Today, they are prepared in every region of Italy and identified by different names depending on where you are.
In Piemonte, they are known as bugie—which literally means “lies.” Perhaps chatting too much leads to telling a few bugie. In Vercelli, they are also called gale.
In Valle d’Aosta, they go by the elegant name merveilles.
From North to South
You’ll also find bugie and chiacchiere in Liguria.
In Lombardy, they are known as galarane in Bergamo and lattughe in Mantua. Across Veneto and Trentino, the same sweets take the names gròstoli or galani, particularly in Venice.
In Emilia-Romagna, names change again: fiocchetti in Rimini and sfrappole in Modena, Bologna, and Romagna.
Moving further south, we encounter frappe in Lazio, Umbria, and Marche, cioffe in Sulmona and central Abruzzo, guanti in Caserta, and maraviglias in Sardinia.
And in Central Italy? Welcome to Tuscany
In Tuscany, where imagination is never lacking, chiacchiere are called cenci.
When I return to Siena at this time of year, I have already shared with you the secrets behind another Carnival favorite, the famous frittelle of Piazza del Campo. You can read more about them here and here as well.
Now, let’s take a closer look at another protagonist of the Tuscan Carnival table: i cenci.
Why Are They Called Cenci?
The word cencio in Italian refers to a piece of fabric with little value—a rag. It is an old word still commonly used in everyday Tuscan language. You might hear expressions like un cencio per pulire il pavimento or un cencio per togliere la polvere.
These sweets do, in fact, resemble thin pieces of fabric.
Wherever you go in Italy during Carnevale, cenci—or whatever they are called locally—dominate bakery windows. They are simple fried dough, generously sprinkled with sugar.
Sometimes, simple is all you need.
Vocabolario di Carnevale
- Chiacchiere – chit chats
- Cencio – rag
- Bugie – lies
- Carnevale – Carnival
- Fritto – fried
- Impasto – dough
