FÊTE DES ROIS

The official end of the Christmas season is the Fête des Rois, or the Three Kings’ Day (Epiphany), and is celebrated throughout France with the galette des rois, or king cake. It’s a flaky pastry generally filled with frangipan (an almond cream), and hidden inside is a fève (tiny baby figurine). Whoever gets the piece with the fève gets to be the king or queen for the day. Most bakeries sell the cakes with a paper crown.

While in Italy:

A completely different approach!  Befana and Epiphany parade: watch this space!