Wedding sugared almonds: the sweet history of an Italian custom

In Italy a wedding without confetti, the sugared almonds, seems almost incomplete. Almonds coated in white sugar are offered to the guests, tied in tulle bags or tucked into small boxes, and they carry the memory of the celebration. Behind this simple gesture lies a long history, combining the medieval sugar trade, the art of the apothecaries, the devotion of convents and the craft tradition of a town in the Abruzzo.

From sugared spices to sugar

The word confetto comes from the Latin confectum, «prepared», and in the Middle Ages it referred to a wide family of sweets. Apothecaries coated seeds of anise, coriander and fennel, or bits of cinnamon, in sugar, producing small dry comfits that were served at the end of banquets and were also considered digestive. Sugar, which reached Europe through trade with the Islamic world, was an expensive commodity, and offering it was a mark of prestige.

Almonds already had a long symbolic history. In the Roman world, according to a frequently recalled tradition, dried fruits and nuts were handed out at weddings and births, and the almond was associated with fertility. When sugar became more affordable, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the union of almond and sweet coating produced the confetto we know, destined for extraordinary success at the Italian courts.

Sulmona, capital of confetti

Sulmona, in the Abruzzo, has been linked to confetti for centuries. Local tradition credits the nuns of the convent of Santa Chiara, in the fifteenth century, with the art of making flowers and ears of wheat from confetti bound with silk threads. In 1783 the Pelino firm was founded there, one of the oldest confetti makers still in business, which also houses a museum devoted to the art and technology of confectionery.

Traditional production relied on the bassina, a rotating pan in which the almonds were gradually coated with thin layers of sugar syrup until a smooth, compact shell was formed. In Sulmona confetti are not limited to weddings: arrangements of flowers, clusters and bouquets decorate shop windows and altars, and the town has made them one of its most recognisable symbols.

Odd numbers and the colours of life

Custom requires confetti to be offered in odd numbers, because an odd number was thought indivisible, as the couple was hoped to be. The most common number is five, which popular tradition associates with as many wishes: health, fertility, long life, happiness and wealth. It is a recent and variable interpretation, but one deeply rooted in Italian families.

Over time a colour code has also taken hold. White is reserved for weddings and first communion, pink and light blue for births and baptisms, red for graduation, silver for silver anniversaries and gold for golden ones. The container, the bomboniera, takes its name from the French bonbonnière, the sweet box, and in the twentieth century it became a small keepsake to be kept at home.

In just a few grams, then, the confetto holds a summary of Italian history: the merchants' sugar, the apothecaries' knowledge, the nuns' patience and the artisans' ingenuity. Every little bag handed to the guests repeats an ancient gesture of sharing, through which the couple's family lets everyone take part in its joy.