The story of Brigidi di Lamporecchio

The legend states that these cookies were invented by the nuns of Santa Brigida (hence brigidino).

Their main chore was to make the ostias (hosts) for the Mass.

To that mixture they added sugar, eggs, flour, etc., and so invented a little treat that became very famous and was always to be found on stalls in fairs and markets.

Pilgrims on their way to Rome often stopped in Pistoia to pay homage to the relics of St. James and they were among the first to sample them.

A second version tells how St Brigida left Sweden in the autumn of 1349 to go to Rome for the 1350 Jubilee where she hoped to obtain papal approval for her plans for a monastic order.

When she arrived in Lamporecchio, near Pistoia, she founded a convent and offered to the other nuns the wafers she’d brought with her from Sweden.

The second version is considered to be the most likely.