{"id":39153,"date":"2023-10-11T17:04:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T15:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/?p=39153"},"modified":"2025-06-06T15:25:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:25:29","slug":"ingannapreti-or-sorpresine-pasta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/en\/ingannapreti-or-sorpresine-pasta\/","title":{"rendered":"Ingannapreti (trick the priest) or Sorpresine: fresh pasta of Romagna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ingannapreti (trick the priests) or sorpresine, like lying tortellini<\/a><\/strong>, are names that refer to a type of fresh pasta that arouses curiosity from the moment you hear them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sorpresine or ingannapreti belong to the Romagna tradition, while tortellini bugiardi or bugie to the Bolognese repertoire. Both refer to fresh egg pasta that imitates stuffed pasta, even though it has no filling. This was the pasta of people who could not afford the rich filling of <\/span>cappelletti<\/span><\/a><\/strong> or <\/span>tortellini<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Ingannapreti means “trick the priests.” These are supposed to look like filled cappelletti, but the trick is- they are empty. A funny old sense of humor those people of Romagna have. Even the other name of sorpresine refers to a surprise. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why did they have to trick the priest? Let’s find out the reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ingannapreti<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Abroad, the most common name is Little Surprises; in Italy, it is better known as ingannapreti. The origin of this humorous name lies in the anticlericalism that has historically distinguished Romagna, a sentiment also reflected in the region’s recipes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strozzapreti (strangle-priest) and ingannapreti are typical examples of the Romagna peasant’s disposition toward the clergy. Romagna and Bologna were part of the State of the Church until the unification of Italy (I have told this history <\/span>here<\/a><\/strong>). But while Bologna was rich, the Romagna area was poor and almost always hungry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At that time, priests visited homes to collect taxes, which also happened during famine or illness of the head of the household. In both cases, <\/span>strozzapreti<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>ingannapreti<\/span><\/em> explicitly express the feelings of peasants towards taxes and who collected them. The first name recalls a kind of exclamation\/wishing (strangle-the-priest). In the second case, deceiving the priest refers to his disappointment with the absence of the filling from the pasta.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historical Notes<\/h4>\n

This recipe appears in many home cookbooks, such as the 19th-century one by Maria Santa Bazzoni, known as Marietta. The azdora was the grandmother of local gastronomy and historian Tino Babini, who recounts how, at the Fair of the Seven Sorrows\u00a0in Russi (Ravenna) in the 1950s and 1960s, ingannapreti were served alongside cappelletti for those who, as yet, could not afford the latter.<\/p>\n

That Fair is the oldest in all of Romagna, its origins dating back to the late 16th century. It was Innocent XI who established it in 1688 to celebrate Our Lady of Sorrows, depicted in popular iconography with her heart pierced by seven swords, representing the sorrows of the Virgin’s life. The Fair still takes place every year in September.<\/p>\n

I dressed the ingannapreti with tomato sauce, mascarpone, and smoked pancetta.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Buona cucina, Monica<\/p>\n

Keep in Touch<\/b><\/h5>\n