While “dessert” in Italy is most often a bowl of lush ripe fruit and a plate of cheeses following a meal, that is not to say the Italians don’t make some incredible confections: Crunchy biscotti for dunking into coffee at breakfast or with a glass of wine later. Tiny butter cookies, miniature baci di dama (ladies’ kisses), made with ground hazelnuts and filled with dark chocolate; bignole, platefuls of delicate custard filled pastries, iced in pastel colors, served in the afternoon when neighbors come calling.

But, it’s at Christmas when Sam pulls out “all the stops” and Lovera’s becomes a gran’festa for the palate. He brings in a boat load of torrone, a nutty Piedmontese nougat that’s been a favorite for feasts since Medieval times. It comes individually wrapped in little decorated boxes (Zia Maria would hang them from her Christmas tree) or in long, shaped loaves—either hard enough to break a tooth or soft and chewy. Panforte from Siena, rich with spices, nuts, citron and orange peel; sacks full of chestnuts, dried figs covered with chocolate from Sicily, bars of chocolate, liquored truffles, and jam filled hard candies. Colorful sugared almonds (the white ones are for weddings only) and fragrant panetone, dotted with rum-soaked raisins and pieces of candied peel…the list goes on and on. Just click - resist it if you can, but Sam thinks not!