From the same mixture of the Martorana Fruit comes the marzipan or more commonly known in Sicily as “Pasta Reale”; a mixture of almonds, sugar and modeled by hand according to the desired shape. The story tells that the Marzipan is a typical dessert of the day of the dead where in the night that passed between the first and the second of November, every Sicilian house where there was a “little boy” was populated with dead familiar to him. Before going to sleep the children put a wicker basket under the bed (the size varied according to the money that was in the family) that at night the dear dead would have filled with sweets and gifts that they would have found on the morning, up waking. Tradition required that when the children woke up they went to the cemetery to thank the dear departed of their precious gestor so as to bring them nearer once a year to the deceased loved ones no longer present on earth.
