In Umbria, Blessed Easter Cheesebreads for a Special Breakfast

In the Umbria countryside, our rural neighbors still bake even more than a dozen cheesebreads in their outdoor bread ovens…or nowadays, in their indoor gas ovens.

Our dear rural friend, Peppa – now over 80 – used to bake her multitudinous Easter cheese breads in this outdoor oven near her farmhouse:

This year, she made 20 in her indoor oven. Two huge ones for us. What goodness!

Peppa also called us to join her for Easter breakfast. The Umbrian tradition for Easter breakfast? Umbrian cheese bread, hard-boiled eggs (seasoned with just a sprinkle of salt), salami or capocollo and/or prosciutto, a glass of red wine (all carried in baskets and blessed in the local church on Holy Saturday).

And here is our “Peppa Easter breakfast” (salt in white container with blue stripe on left, ready for sprinkling on the eggs)…

…and my plate as I enjoyed the rural Easter goodness:

Pino, too, relished the Peppa Easter breakfast:

On the Holy Saturday prior after an afternoon Mass, the baskets of our rural neighbors had been blessed in our small church near Assisi:

These days, in many basket large chocolate Easter eggs wrapped in shiny, colorful papers – to be given to the children in the family – join the traditional goodness. And in Silvio’s basket (he’s on the right), you’ll also see the sweet Easter cake which often joins the cheesebread – and will be dessert:

Lovely embroideries cover many a basket – like that of the altar cloth in our small church:

Olive branches like those flanking the altar had been distributed on the Sunday prior, Palm Sunday: we have all pruned our olive trees around that time so olive branches – not palm branches – are distributed on Palm Sunday in Italian churches.