“Celebrating with panettone is one of the ways Italians bring a sense of joy and love around the table with family and friends,” says Chef Vincenzo Giangiordano, an Abruzzese now cooking at Terza Ristorante in Rochester, Minnesota. “Like so many other Italian traditions, enjoying panettone is a special treasure reserved just for the holiday season,” he says.

The golden-colored bread is typically eaten after dinner on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning. (On Easter Day, you’ll find Colomba Easter Bread, pane di Pasqua, at dinner tables across Italy, bread baked in the shape of a dove.)