In this video we will be looking at Joe Camerieri at the St. Petersburg Italian Festival held during May 2025. This was held at Vinoy Park.
He will be showing us how he makes the famous Italian fritter known as a zeppole.
What are zeppole?
It is similar to a beignet if you ever had one in New Orleans.
Sugar or cinnamon often fill this deep fried pastry dough. And often it can be filled with a cream.
There are 5 ingredients and he also tells us what type of oil he uses. The ingredients are flour, sugar, salt, yeast and powdered sugar is optional. In Rome, they sometimes use cinnamon instead of sugar.
Italian and Sicilian Tradition
The tradition of making zeppole is typically used during the feast of St. Joseph on March 19th, which is Italy’s day that they celebrate Father’s Day.
In Sicily, some places will make sfingi, a similar dessert to celebrate that feast but have ricotta inside whereas the zeppole do not.
Italian Vocabulary
Zeppola – singular, Italian pastry dough, originating in Naples, Italy.
Zeppole – plural, Italian pastry dough, sometimes you see Zeppoli as the plural.
Ciambella – doughnut
Ciambelle – doughnuts
Sfincia – singular – Sicilian version of zeppole
Sfingi – plural for sfincia
Here is an image of a zeppole after he made it – delizioso (delicious).
image of Italian pastry dough called a zeppola usually sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar.
Links mentioned in the video:
Palermo Sicily Travel Guide Book
Joe’s website so you can make Italian zeppole at home.
You may also be interested in:
How they make olive oil in Sicily
