Cannolo, meaning “little tube”, is an Italian dessert of Sicilian origins. Cannoli come from the Palermo and Messina areas and were historically prepared as a treat during Carnevale season, possibly as a fertility symbol; one legend assigns their origin to the city of Caltanissetta. They are a symbol of both Sicily and Italian pasticceria, everywhere in the world. Cannoli consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually containing ricotta. Chopped pistachios, semi-sweet chocolate pieces, and candied citrus peel or cherries are often still included, dotting the open ends of the pastries. They range in size from "cannulicchi", no bigger than a finger, to the fist-sized proportions typically found in the south of Palermo, Sicily, in Piana degli Albanesi. Cannoli have been traced to the Arabs during the Emirate of Sicily, with a possible origin for the word and recipe deriving directly from the word qanaw?t. These were deep fried dough tubes filled with various sweets, which were a popular pastry across the Islamic world at the time. The cannoli sold in Italian-American bakeries today usually still contain ricotta, but mascarpone is a less common alternative. Rarely, the filling is a simple custard of sugar, milk, and cornstarch. These changes became standardized when Italians who immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and discovered limited availability of certain ingredients.