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In the early afternoon on December 25, the most important Christmas day, people have the so-called Pranzo di Natale (Christmas meal). It starts with Minestra maritata (chicken soup with vegetables), followed by a pasta dish like, for example, Maccheroni al ragout, Canelloni, or Tortellini. The Minestra is a typical Neapolitan Christmas meal.
The second main dish is the cooked chicken, which was used to prepare the soup. Contorno is Broccoli di Natale, a kind of leafy broccoli, which you can only find at the Gulf of Naples. For dessert, people enjoy Struffoli,
a colourfully decorated pastry made from many small fried dough balls, accompanied by a glass of liqueur like Limoncello. In the evening, people celebrate the end of the day with Spumante and a piece of Panettone or Pandoro. Panettone isn’t a typical Neapolitan Christmas pastry; it is from the North of Italy, but all its varieties (for example, with almonds or filled with chocolate) are very popular in Naples as well.
After the meal, it is time to finally open the presents. In the days before Christmas, they have been placed under the tree one by one, which is especially exciting for the children. The presents are brought by Babbo Natale,
Father Christmas. It wasn’t so long ago, however, that the presents were brought on January 6 by Befana. Befana is an old, ugly woman on a broom who, till today, fills the children’s socks with candy or (edible) coal in the night of January 6.
There is no specific Christmas meal on December 26 (Prima festa), but people cook big meals all the same. Following a pasta dish is fish or meat and, like the previous day, people have Contorni (broccoli and Insalata die rinforzo)
as well as the desserts Struffoli and Roccoco.
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