Even if you’re not religious, Easter in Italy’s smallest towns is a chance to see century-old traditions that continue to bring together their communities like no other time of year.  On Santo Sabato (the Saturday before Easter), Gabriella Serafinelli, 63, lines a wicker basket with a clean white tea towel. A former baker, she has lived her entire life in Manciano, a small country townon the border of Tuscany and Lazio. 

In the days she commandeered her family’s bakery, Gabriella and her husband, Fiorenzo, would make hundreds of ‘Colombe’, the airy Easter cake that is famous all over Italy. In the legend told around here, this cake can be traced back to the Lombard king Alboino, who, during the siege of Pavia (mid-sixth century), offered a dove-shaped confection as a sign of peace.