maritozzo

The origins of the recipe date back to ancient Rome, when the honey-sweetened buns were given to laborers. Its name derives from the custom of men offering this dessert to their girlfriends on the first Friday of March. The future brides who received it as a gift used to call the donor maritozzo (derived from the word for "husband"). On such occasions, the dessert could also hide gifts inside for the beloved, such as a ring or a small jewel.
In Medieval Rome, maritozzi were one of the only sweets permitted during Lent because they could be made with olive oil in place of animal fat without compromising the taste. This version was known as the maritozzo quaresimale ("Lenten bun"), and was given the nickname er santo maritozzo ("the holy maritozzo") in the Romanesco dialect. Giuseppe Gioachino Belli referenced this usage in his sonnet "La Quaresima" in 1833 (La quaresima on Italian Wikisource). He also compares the cream bun to a phallus in his earlier sonnet "Er Padre de li Santi", due to the bun's elongated shape. The writer Giggi Zanazzo further referenced maritozzi in his book Uses, Customs, and Prejudices of the Roman People (Usi, costumi e pregiudizi del popolo di Roma) in 1908.