In the midsts of Christmas celebrations, in Positano, a very special festivity takes place: the Festa della Zeppola (“donot festival” in English).
It is a winter celebration during which some judges have to vote the best “zeppola”. People try very hard to do their best, levitating dough and frying, dipping in sugar or dribbling honey. They definitely want to impress the jury and win.
That’s what happens nowadays, but back in time the donuts were offerent differently. Put in a basket lined with some lemon leaves as ornments. The meaning of the event, in fact, is putting together all the products the coast had to offer to people and tourists. That means raisins, lemon zest, pine nuts, orange peel and honey all mixed up to make the “zeppole”, keeping in mind that the hole in the middle is mandatory not only to win the competion, but to recall the original recipe.
Some ladies also put the potatoes, since there are three special awards in the competition: one for the best leavened zeppola, one for the best potatoes zeppola and one for the best ornamented dish. These lucky women will win the so-called “Zeppola d’Oro” (in English “the Golden Zeppola”).
When the winners are announced, everybody can taste all the zeppolas produced by the contestants while enjoying live music and folkloristic games on the main beach, such as football matches and treasure hunts.
It’s a unique experience to stay all together and celebrate, no matter how good you are in preparing the donuts or if you didn’t prepare any at all: enjoy the rest of the people and discover the tradition and the culture related to Positano. It is a great chance to tourists too to attend something not that ordinary in Italy, since it is a tradition related to this place, so they don’t have to miss it.