cannoli

Cannoli is the plural of cannolo, from Italian canna (reed, tube), from Latin canna (reed, cane), from Greek kanna, from Akkadian qanū. The dessert is a fried pastry tube filled with sweetened ricotta. The original tubes were shaped around pieces of sugar cane — the canna — which were removed after frying. The word names the shape, not the filling.

The cannolo is Sicilian. Like cassata, it combines Arab and Italian elements: the fried pastry shell descends from Arab frying traditions, while the ricotta filling is Italian pastoral. Some historians connect it to the harem of the Emir of Caltanissetta during Arab rule of Sicily (827-1091 CE), but this is tradition, not documented history. What is documented is that cannoli were an established Carnival treat in Sicily by the nineteenth century.

Sicilian immigrants brought cannoli to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In New York, Boston, and Providence, Italian-American bakeries made cannoli a staple. The scene in The Godfather Part III (1990) — 'Leave the gun, take the cannoli' — was actually in the first film (1972), and it cemented the word in American English. The line was improvised by actor Richard Castellano.

American cannoli differ from Sicilian ones. American shells are often pre-filled and sit for hours; Sicilian cannoli are filled to order so the shell stays crisp. American fillings often include chocolate chips or vanilla; Sicilian fillings use sheep's milk ricotta with candied fruit or pistachios. The dessert split into two traditions: the Sicilian original, filled fresh, and the Italian-American adaptation, pre-filled and sweeter.