The presence of the bread on the table has a votive meaning, symbol of the grain germination miracle and memory of the matzoh (unleavened bread eaten by Jews during the Exodus from Egypt).

The egg is an integral part of the celebration as a symbol of life that is renewed and wish of fertility.

Egg and bread inspire traditional pies and cakes as the Genoese "Pasqualina", the Criscia from Marche or the Campania Easter Piazzas, stuffed with eggs, ham cheese and salami.

The lamb is for Christians symbol of the innocent body of the crucified Jesus. The tradition of eating it comes from the Jewish culture, where during Easter time it is eaten for eight days, after having sprinkled his blood on the doorpost, in memory of the episode described in the Ancient Scriptures of the Holy Bible. 

Among the desserts, the most classic are definitely the Easter dove and Neapolitan Pastiera. The story goes that in the mid-sixth century Alboin, king of the Lombards, during the siege of the city of Pavia, received a leavened bread in the shape of a dove. The dove was a sign of peace; since then, this cake made ​​with simple ingredients like eggs, flour and yeast, was enriched with butter, sugar, candied fruit and entered the Easter tradition.

On the classical Pastiera is said, however, that a night, long time ago, the wives of some fishermen, in Naples, leave baskets with ricotta, candied fruit, wheat, eggs and orange blossom on the beach, as an offer to the sea to make their husbands came back home safely. The very next morning, the women found the fishermen on the beach and saw that the waves had mixed the ingredients and created the cake Pastiera.

The ingredients of this sweet retain a strong symbolic value. The ricotta cheese, sweetened by sugar, transfigures the votive offerings of milk and honey, typical of the early Christian ceremonies. The grain is a wish for wealth and fertility. The eggs symbolize new life. The water of orange blossom announces the spring.