Artusi who was born near the town of Forli in Emilia Romagna made his money as a silk merchant but his passion was for cooking. Friends encouraged him to put out a cookbook. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anyone to publish his work so he eventually self published his cookbook in the late 1800s and by 1911; it had become a true hit. It is still a hit today, although he now has a lot more competition form chefs and authors. His cookbook was the first one that included recipes from all over Italy, which until unification, had been a series of mini states.

In his book, Artusi suggests a couple of traditional Italian Christmas meals that include delicacies from various Italian regions.  According to Artusi, the meal on Christmas Eve should have seven courses starting with a soup dish, then an antipasto plate, followed by fried foods, vegetables, and a roast of some sort, dessert and fruit. This long meal is repeated in some homes but certainly not all. On Christmas Day, the meal has six courses.

Artusi suggests starting out both holiday meals with Tortellini in brodo on Christmas Eve and Cappelletti di Romagna on Christmas day. These soups hail from Emilia-Romagna, a North Eastern region of Italy. These dishes are ones that many remember their mothers and grandmothers making when they were growing up. The rolling out of the tortellini in the days leading to Christmas Eve was a family event and has always been met with excitement, friends noted.

In fact, two very different meals are usually served during the Christmas celebration. One is the meal on Christmas Eve, generally dominated by fish while on Christmas day meat is served. Among the fish dishes served, according to Artusi, an antipasto such as anchovies on bread may be served or a simple cold fish antipasto. That is usually followed by some type of fried fish, either sole or squid. The main course is often an eel dish or another large fish, Eel meat is oilier than that of many fish, and is consequently ideally suited to the grill, though it also fries well, Artusi noted.

Eel is an essential part of the Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner. Here is the recipe for the Baked  Eel .

Desserts are usually dry cakes served with oranges, pears, apples, mandarin oranges and dates.

On Christmas day, if one has digested their meal, the whole experience starts again, according to Artusi. This time, though, the main event is a meat dish. Here too, some type of pasta will be served, usually cappelletti o tortellini in brodo or something similar.

 Following that dish, Capon or Guinea Fowl often graces the table. This meal also ends with a cake, fruit and nuts and sweet chewy cakes such as Panforte from Tuscany.

Following Christmas dinner, many people have a digestive to wash down the meal. Italian digestives are famous throughout the world because there is such a wealth of them. There are a few principal ones including Amari from the North which are bitters, Limoncello which is made from Lemons and is sweeter and traditionally hails from the South and Grappa which is made from grape pomace and usually comes from the mountains. There are also a couple of brandies made in Italy such as Stravecchio but what is served tends to depend on local and family traditions. Many families play cards following the long holiday meals as well.

Christmas is a lovely time in Italy and is the start of a long 12 day holiday for many people. Even if one eats too much on Christmas, by New Year’s Eve, they should be ready for the big dinner or Cenone. Look to Italian digestives to help you make the transition.