How does a delicate and low-key biscotto, with humble origins survive in the midst of the modern feast of San Gennaro? Most people in New York associate all sorts of loud fireworks, music, games and street food with the feast, such as fried pizza, zeppole and sausage heroes. Yet the traditional food scene for San Gennaro in Napoli, like its people, is more complex and layered. Napoli, is a legendary but baffling city to outsiders, with a larger-than-life frenetic citizenry. The city has always been full of contradictions. Great wealth and great poverty. Light and darkness. It is because of these contradictions that Neapolitans tend to live in the moment. Annually, on September 19th, thousands in Napoli gather for the feast of San Gennaro, their patron saint and protector. Protector? Unless you are from Napoli you probably don’t appreciate the fact that it exists in a beautiful setting on the edge of destruction. Nestled between Mount Vesuvio and the Phlegrean Fields it is regarded by scientists as, geologically speaking, the second most dangerous region on the planet. It should therefore come as no surprise that the city has nearly 500 churches, nor that San Gennaro’s feast day is celebrated with tremendous emotion and fanfare. Yet, in the middle of all this chaos is an enduring, beloved and noble biscotto, Uovo e Limone.

Uovo e Limone biscotti were originally created in San Gennaro’s honor by the nuns of the San Gennaro Poor Hospital. For many centuries these nuns served the indigent poor of the city. Like the people they helped, the nuns had very limited resources. One of their solutions was to make a special biscotto using a recipe of only four simple ingredients so that their patients could participate in the feast. Uovo e Limone is soft, sweet and very tasty. It was baked soft intentionally by the nuns so it could be easily eaten, even by those who were very ill. The jam in the middle of the biscotto, which recalls the color of Mount Vesuvio’s lava is however, a “recent” addition made by a Neapolitan baker to commemorate the miracle of 1631. The story goes that in 1631 the lava flow from Mount Vesuvio stopped before a statue of San Gennaro placed in its path by the clergy and the pious people of Napoli, thereby saving the city and its inhabitants. Uovo e Limone biscotti recall the nuns of San Gennaro, their patron saint, and a miracle. So that is why such a simple but very tasty loved little biscotto still exists and continues to be eaten in Napoli, and L’Arte, to this day! Viva San Gennaro.

Chef Andrea