What is the name of the traditional New Year's Eve midnight meal served in Italy, often featuring lentils?

Cotechino con lenticchie is the traditional Italian New Year's Eve meal of sausage served with lentils.

Cotechino is a cooked pork sausage associated especially with northern Italy, while lenticchie means lentils. The dish is traditionally eaten around New Year because lentils resemble small coins and are therefore linked symbolically with prosperity. The rich pork sausage represents abundance in many accounts of the custom.

Preparation varies by region and household. Cotechino is generally simmered gently before being sliced, and it is commonly served with lentils as a substantial winter dish. Zampone, a related preparation of seasoned pork stuffed into a pig’s trotter, is another well-known New Year food and is sometimes served with the same lentil accompaniment.

The dish is a food tradition, not a single nationwide countdown ritual. Italian New Year customs also include fireworks, social gatherings, and symbolic foods that differ across regions. Lentils may therefore appear without cotechino, but the named pairing is the canonical festive combination.