Carnevale Pastries In Venice
- Darcy Melton
- Mar 13
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 15
There are three classic seasonal sweet treats in Venice that are available only around the time of Carnevale. Our favorite is frittelle.
What are frittelle?
Fritelle are essentially fluffy donut balls. Check out our article on the best places in Venice to get frittelle! A note, in case you're searching for these on the internet before your trip, these pastries are often translated into English as "pancakes" or "fritters" which isn't very accurate. We've done our best to accurately describe these amazing sweets so you can know before you go. While you may find these pastries at other times of year and in other cities there is no guarantee because these are traditionally seasonal. Get 'em while they're hot!
On to the list!
Frittelle
Called fritoe or fritole in Venetian dialect, but frittelle is most often used in pastry shops. These balls of fried dough are covered in granulated sugar, crunchy on the outside, soft and heavenly on the inside. They are typically about the size of a lemon and the dough is enriched with raisins, pine nuts, and sometimes lemon peel and grappa. There are several varieties, the classic unfilled option is called Veneziane. Others include zabaione (whipped egg yolk, sugar, and sweet wine, an Italian classic), Chantilly cream, panna (whipped cream), pistachio, chocolate/nutella, and more. Darcy's favorite is zabaione, each pasticceria makes theirs differently with varied types and amounts of sweet wine. We tend to avoid both pistachio and chocolate flavors because it can be hard to tell before ordering if those fillings are made in house.
To read more about frittelle, check out our article Top 7 Places To Get Frittelle in Venice.
Galani
Called chiacchiere in much of Italy, although this pastry goes by many different names across the country, it's a crunchy fried little sheet of dough covered in powdered sugar. Some believe the name chiacchiere, meaning "chatter" or "gossip", refers to the chatty festival atmosphere during which they have traditionally been consumed. I like to think it refers to the noise they make when you eat them, which I think sounds like boisterous chatting.
These are one of the oldest desserts in Italy. They were traditionally eaten by ancient Romans during Satrunalia celebrations. Galani are flavored with lemon zest and either grappa, rum, sweet/dessert wine, and/or white wine. Watch out, these tasty little sweet treats can be very crumbly so keep a napkin near by.
Castagnole
Castangnonle can look like baby frittelle due to their size which is close a cherry-tomato or kumquat. These little fried dough balls are covered in granulated sugar and traditionally flavored with anise liqueur. Flavors differ because some recipes use lemon or orange zest, vanilla, and different alcohols like Strega or rum.
Of course, there are many other pastries filling the pasticceria across Venice, these are just three of the most typical offerings during Carnevale!
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