Schiacciatina
The oldest testimony we can find about Schiacciatina (or "Chizolina" in mantuan dialect) production is in the poem "Baldus" published in the 1517 from the famous Mantuan writer Teofilo Folengo: "Hic quoque formari schizzadas atque fugazzasv, he writed.
So we can say that just at the Gonzagas Days, the bakers of Mantova produced the "Schizzadas", ancestors of the actual Schiacciatine: the original dough was composed only of flour, water and salt, and was cooked "on a warm hearth-stone covered with a lot of embers".
It was the peasant food for excellence that was consumed instead of bread during the farm work.
Sbrisolona
The Sbrisolona cake occupies the place of honor in pastry shops of Mantova: in ancient times, it was called "the cake of the three cups" for the equal amount, measured in cups, of its three characteristic ingredients: white flour, yellow flour and sugar.
This cake of Mantova has sure ancient origins, probably it belongs to peasant tradition because of the possibility to conserve it for a long time.
Thanks to the own energetic characteristics, the Sbrisolona cake was also the mothers's preferred sweet during breast-feeding of the sons and, with the passing of the time, in the ingredients there were also added the almonds for their symbolic meaning, because they represent the light and the rebirth.
The characteristic that makes this cake unique is its ability to crumble itself, to turn into sweet crumbs ("brise" in mantuan dialect), and that gives the permission not to cut it but to break it with the hands.