Frutta martorana

Frutta martorana (also frutta di Martorana or in sicilian frutta Marturana) are traditional marzipan sweets, in the form of fruits and vegetables, from the provinces of Palermo and Messina, Sicily.

Realistically coloured with vegetable dyes, they are said to have originated at the Monastero della Martorana, Palermo, when nuns decorated empty fruit trees with marzipan fruit to impress an archbishop visiting at Easter. They are traditionally put by children's bedsides on All Saints' Day.