Festa di San Guiseppe

Like so many holidays in Italy, Festa di San Guiseppe celebrates Jesus' father Joseph, known here as San Guiseppe, and is something like Father's Day in the US. Unlike Father's Day, Festa di San Guiseppe has a dedicated food- the zeppole. And it's not just any zeppole, it's a delicious deep-fried zeppole topped with custard-like pastry cream. Don't be fooled by the picture- these are about 4" in diameter and are absolutely delicious. 

These were the best ones we tried. Over the past 2 weeks I had them on multiple occasions and Mari always offered her insight as to how authentic they were. 

These were baked (apparently but they tasted very, very fried) and they were good, but perhaps out of season? We had these the first week I was here which was a little before the actual festa. 

They're gorgeous and I will venture to say that no one has really had a zeppole before they have one in Italy. The center is full of giant air bubbles, with an almost gummy dough. The outside is crispy golden but surprisingly, deceivingly, light. It's not completely clear to me why this particular food is linked with Father's Day but one explanation is that St. Joseph is also the patron saint of pastry chefs. He just became my new favorite saint.