The History of Panettone

The history of panettone is a fascinating journey woven from ancient rural customs, Renaissance legends, and 20th-century industrial ingenuity. Long before becoming the soft, domed, leavened cake we know today, panettone’s true origins were rooted in the Middle Ages and tied to a deeply ingrained domestic ritual in Milan: the Ceremony of the Log. On Christmas Eve, families gathered around the hearth, where a massive wooden log burned. During this gathering, the head of the household would break three large loaves of wheat bread—wheat being a luxury ingredient reserved solely for holidays, while rye or millet bread was consumed throughout the year—and distribute a slice to everyone present. One slice was religiously preserved until the following Christmas as a symbol of good fortune and continuity.

Intertwined with this solid historical foundation are three famous legends that helped forge the myth of Milan’s iconic dessert. The most celebrated is undoubtedly the story of “Pan de Toni.” Set at the end of the 15th century at the court of Ludovico il Moro, a lavish Christmas banquet turned to disaster when the head chef realized with horror that he had burnt the dessert intended for the Duke. Saving the kitchen’s reputation was a young scullery boy named Toni. He suggested serving a sweet bread he had prepared earlier for himself using leftover pantry staples: flour, eggs, butter, sugar, raisins, and candied fruit. The dessert was a resounding success, and the delighted Duke named the creation “Pan de Toni”—a name that evolved over the centuries into panettone.

The second legend has a more romantic backstory starring Ughetto degli Atellani, a noble knight in love with the beautiful Adalgisa, daughter of a struggling Milanese baker. To turn the bakery’s fortunes around and win the girl’s heart, Ughetto took a job there as an apprentice. Using his own funds, he enriched the baker’s plain bread with butter, sugar, eggs, and raisins. The new sweet bread was an instant sensation, enabling the young couple to marry. It is no coincidence that in the Milanese dialect, raisins are called ughett. A third variation attributes the creation to Sister Ughetta, a nun who sought to brighten Christmas for her sisters in an impoverished convent. She combined the few ingredients available and carved a cross on top of the dough before baking it as a blessing—giving birth to the classic scarpatura (the cross-shaped cut on the dome) that pastry chefs still execute today.

However, until the early 20th century, panettone remained vastly different from the modern version: it was flat, dense, and compact, much like a sweet focaccia. The true revolution occurred in the 1920s thanks to the ingenuity of Angelo Motta and, later, Gioacchino Alemagna. They lengthened the leavening process and introduced the pirottino—a baking paper collar. This band forced the dough to rise vertically as it baked, giving panettone its iconic mushroom shape, golden dome, and incredibly airy texture. Evolving from an enriched local bread to an Italian tradition, panettone conquered the entire peninsula, ultimately splitting the market into two distinct worlds.