Manduria Colombino

The colombino is a typical sweet from the city of Manduria, in the province of Taranto. Its origin is not documented by any official records, but the information and testimonies we have at our disposal place its birth in the 1950s. Legend has it that one day in 1953 a pastry chef named Miola Matteo, on the daily journey from Taranto to Lecce to reach his workplace, stopped in the city of Manduria because his vehicle broke down. The prolonged and unexpected wait would have prompted him to inquire about any pastry shops to be found in the town, where the Bouvette of the historic Teatro Candeloro was looking for a new manager.
Hence the story of the Miola family in Manduria and the creation of a light, soft and crumbly pastry called colombino. The pastry has the shape of a long cone shaped cake and has two layers of puff pastry filled with orange almond paste and custard. Everything is covered with a soft meringue glaze made with sugar, egg white and lemon, with a decoration on top that is in the shape of a small dove, from which its name is derived, made with apricot jam.
It was most likely created to celebrate the patronal feast of San Gregorio Magno on the 3rd of September and for other traditional holiday feasts, today the colombino is also prepared every Sunday. A classic when combined with a glass of Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale.

Season

The Manduria Colombino is available all year round.