Easter brings the opportunity to celebrate not just the religious holiday, but the arrival of spring and the chance to share beloved meals and desserts with family and friends regardless of beliefs. For those looking to include traditional Easter treats in their holiday feasts, a trio of Naples businesses— Altavilla Pizza & Trattoria, Taste of Poland and Mikkelsen’s Pastry Shop—offer specialty items ranging from breads and pastries to lamb-shaped pats of butter.

Traditional Easter bread at Altavilla Pizza & Trattoria

Altavilla Pizza & Trattoria offers a variety of traditional Italian “Easter bread,” a sweet, braided brioche with dyed eggs baked in the dough and colorful sprinkles on top.

Gelsomino (Jesse) Palmese owns Altavilla, which opened in 2013, with his parents, Tina and Francesco Palmese. Growing up, he remembers his grandparents making the bread, typically on the Saturday before Easter, and now his father makes the Easter bread—and all other baked goods—at Altavilla.

“They would make it in all different shapes and sizes, and they would have the colorful sweet bread; it had the sprinkles and then the Easter eggs in there, the colored eggs,” Palmese recalled. “And about four or five years ago my father started to make it here at Altavilla. He’s the mastermind behind all the bread here.”

The restaurant’s Easter bread shapes include the traditional round brioches, crosses and fish.

Altavilla Pizza & Trattoria

7550 Mission Hills Drive, Suite 318, Naples; altavillanaples.com; 239.348.7290 Order by phone or in person (no online orders); latest pickup is Saturday, March 30 (closed Easter Sunday). Cash, major credit cards and checks accepted.

Polish babka, paska and deli items at Taste of Poland

Aneta Nej, who has owned Taste of Poland with her husband Peter for the last five years, said customers drive from as far as Miami and Tallahassee to pick up their favorite traditional Polish Easter treats— from breads including babka and paska to fresh breakfast sausages to boxes of lamb-shaped butter to serve with the breads.

“It [the butter] is a symbol of peace and love and Jesus’ resurrection,” Nej said. “Easter is very important to Polish people, even more important than Christmas for a lot of Polish people who are Christian.”

Babka is a sweet iced bread typically baked in coffee cans to give it a tall shape, while paska is usually baked in round braided loaves. In addition to these and other baked goods, Taste of Poland offers a wide variety of Polish grocery and deli items and spun-sugar Easter candies in bunny, lamb and duck shapes.

Taste of Poland

13500 Tamiami Trail N., Naples; topnaples.com; 239.631.1917 In-store orders only; no phone or online orders. Cash, major credit cards and checks accepted. (Closed Easter Sunday.)

Easter treats from sweet to savory at Mikkelsen’s Pastry Shop

Mikkelsen’s Pastry Shop may cater primarily to a wholesale clientele including local hotels, restaurants and clubs, but customers visiting the north Naples bakery can find a wide range of baked goods and a selection of savory dishes, as well.

Elizabeth and Paw Mikkelsen started the pastry shop almost 24 years ago and offer sweet Easter treats including cupcakes, iced cookies, coconut cakes and eggshaped cakes in vanilla and chocolate for wholesale and retail customers alike.

“We also do hot cross buns, which are of course an Easter staple,” Elizabeth Mikkelsen said. “And because Easter is sort of a ‘Sunday morning holiday,’ a lot of people come in for filled croissants, scones, Danishes and quiche.”

Mikkelsen’s also offers a line of savory refrigerated foods from Wicked Eats, created by longtime local chef Billy Vasseur. Wicked Eats’ Easter menu items include deviled eggs; lemony chicken and orzo soup; braised lamb shank with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetable medley; and shepherd’s pie.

Mikkelsen’s Pastry Shop

1068 Business Lane, Naples; mikkelsenspastryshop. com; 239.596.5996 Pre-ordering by phone strongly encouraged (no online orders); latest pickup is Saturday, March 30 (closed Easter Sunday). Cash, checks and major credit cards accepted.