The Italian Easter Colomba

History, tradition and why the artisan version is in a league of its own.

A modern cake with an ancient soul

There is something curious about the history of the colomba pasquale: one of the most beloved and eagerly awaited cakes on Italian Easter tables did not emerge from a recipe passed down through generations, nor from any deep-rooted rural tradition, but from the sharp instinct of an advertising man. The setting is Milan in the 1930s, and Dino Villani, head of communications at Motta, already famous throughout Italy for its Christmas panettone, is facing a very practical problem: the factory on Viale Corsica sits idle for months after the Christmas season, with machinery unused and workers out of a job. The solution he comes up with is brilliant in its simplicity: take the same panettone dough, with flour, butter, eggs, sugar and candied orange peel, reshape it into a dove with open wings, and finish it with a thick glaze of egg whites, almonds and pearl sugar. Around 1934, the colomba as we know it today is born.

Around this origin, far more romantic legends have accumulated over time. The most widespread tells of Saint Columban who, around 610 AD, was a guest of the Lombard queen Theodelinda in Pavia during Lent and refused to eat the rich foods offered in his honour, but rather than offend the queen he miraculously transformed them into white doves made of bread. Another legend places the colomba in 572 AD, when the citizens of Pavia, after three years of siege, offered the Lombard king Alboin sweet dove-shaped loaves as a gesture of peace, thus sparing the city from sacking. Fascinating stories, certainly, but ones whose outlines remain firmly in the realm of legend. What we know for certain is that the recipe was later taken up by Angelo Vergani, who in 1944 founded Vergani srl in Milan, a company that still produces colomba today, and from there the cake spread across every Italian table until it earned formal recognition from the Ministry of Agricultural Policies as a traditional Italian agri-food product.

Artisan or industrial: the difference you taste, and the one you read on the label

For decades the colomba remained a predominantly industrial product, dominated by major brands that ensured its wide distribution at affordable prices. Then something changed. In recent years, driven by growing consumer attention to the quality of ingredients and production processes, the artisan colomba has experienced a genuine renaissance. The data confirm it: according to the first «Divina Colomba» Observatory promoted by Goloasi, conducted on a sample of 300 artisan businesses across Italy, 66.1% of pastry chefs, bakers and craft workshops expect an increase in their production volumes for Easter 2026, while the remaining 33.9% is aiming for stability. Not a single operator reports a decline. 63.5% of those surveyed consider the sector to be growing, and for nearly half of them, 49.6%, the colomba is now the main product of the entire Easter season.

But what truly sets an artisan colomba apart? The answer lies in the sourdough starter and in time, two ingredients that no mass industrial production can afford in equal measure. A quality artisan colomba requires at least two to three days of work: on the first day the starter is refreshed and strengthened, in the evening the first dough is prepared and left to rise overnight for around fifteen hours, the following day the remaining ingredients are added, the dough is portioned, left to prove again in the baking mould before going into the oven, and then the cake rests for several hours at a controlled temperature before being packaged. The result is an internal crumb with the characteristic open, elongated bubble structure, moist and stringy, fragrant, melting in the mouth without leaving any heaviness behind. No artificial flavourings, no colourings, no hydrogenated fats: only carefully selected raw materials, quality butter, fresh eggs and genuine candied fruit. The only reliable way to tell a truly artisan colomba from one that merely calls itself such for marketing purposes is to read the label, as required by law: ingredients are listed in descending order of quantity, and they never lie.

The colomba cakes in our catalogue: excellence that speaks for itself

For Easter 2026 we have selected colomba cakes that embody exactly this artisan spirit. The Sablù colomba cakes, a Sicilian production of the highest level, are packaged in modified atmosphere to preserve freshness without resorting to preservatives. In their Special range you will find creations such as the Cioccocaramel, complete with a piping bag of chocolate caramel cream, a jar of caramel and cubes of salted caramel, or the Colomba Iblea with Giordana cream made from white chocolate and chips of Modica IGP chocolate, a direct nod to the most authentic Sicilian confectionery tradition. For pistachio lovers, which has become the undisputed flavour of Italian Easter tables in recent years, the artisan colomba cakes and Easter eggs from Sofì, the Pistacchiosofi brand, are a choice that is very hard to match. And for those who want something truly unique, the Primitivo eggs from Antica Dolceria Rizza are made from Modica IGP Extra Dark Chocolate at 65%, one of the very few chocolates in the world still processed using the traditional cold-work method, without conching, which preserves a granular texture and an aromatic profile entirely different from any other bar of chocolate on the market. According to the Observatory data, the price of a quality artisan colomba sits between 30 and 40 euros per kilogram for 86.1% of the artisans surveyed: a figure that, given the raw materials and the work involved, speaks for itself.

Between Lombard legend and Milanese advertising genius, the colomba has travelled nearly a century of Italian history to become what it is today: a symbol of spring, of shared tables, of the care that goes into doing things properly. Choosing the artisan version is not snobbery. It is simply choosing to taste it for real.