Although some sources indicate that the Veneziana is a Milanese Christmas cake, its birth took place in the lagoon city.
Originally it was the "fugazza" or "fugassa", a typical Easter and Christmas cake cooked at home by mixing butter, eggs, honey and sugar with the bread dough. 

The wealthiest families added spices such as cinnamon and cloves, which Venice imported from the east, and orris root, which gave the dessert a slight scent of violet.
The pastry shops reworked this sweet loaf making it richer and more elegant with a covering of almond icing and sugar grains, which became its distinctive feature along with the typical flattened shape.