A Chocolate Tour of Italy

Artisanal Bio and Industrial Factories in Tuscany Piedmont Emilia Romagna and Umbria

Chocolate History up until the late 18^th century, chocolate only existed in liquid form and was drunk exclusively by the aristocracy and the clergy, only to spread to other sectors of society, beginning with the wealthy merchant classes.

The drink of the gods dates back to the Maya, using cocoa beans to prepare a beverage, the Xocoatl, with a very spicy and intense flavor. Cocoa becomes a very valuable commodity.
Christopher Columbus and Cortes discover the Americas, the cocoa plant and bear the seeds for the first time in Europe. The recipe of the Aztecs, with red pepper and hot spices, is modified with cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and cocoa for a sweeter taste.
In Italy, Venetian and Florentine masters give life to the art of preparing chocolate and start exporting it.
19^th Century chocolate becomes accessible to a wider audience, product quality improves and new varieties are created. New manufacturing processes separate cocoa paste and cocoa butter.

Turin is the Birthplace of Gianduja and Home to Many Fine Chocolatiers

Did You Know That the ideal environment for chocolate, which must be kept cool and dry, is at a temperature between 15 °- 18 ° C. Tempering is an operation that serves to give chocolate a stable crystalline structure to make it shiny, bright and free of veining. The white coating that forms on the chocolate is Cocoa Butter after heat shock or exposure to light. Cocoa grows in the tropics. Wines, spirits and beers pair well with dark chocolate with medium to high cocoa content of - 70% to 90%.

White Chocolate has this color because it is obtained from cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder, but is not added to the paste of cocoa, which corresponds to the dark part of the cocoa. The percentage of cocoa indicated on the wrapper indicates the sum of cocoa butter, cocoa mass and powder, present.

A traditional Saint Valentine’s Day Gift: heart of Gianduja and hazelnuts, garnished with a whole hazelnut and coated with dark chocolate

Tasting Chocolate

Sight color and brilliance communicate chocolate perfection; the best are shiny. Check its nuances and gloss before tasting it.
Tact scroll slowly the chocolate with your fingers to uncover its silky texture. Feel it on your lips: good chocolate is smooth, velvety and melts quickly.
Smell a lingering, intoxicating and intense fragrance: cocoa releases olfactory emotions that are never forgotten. Breathe deeply and feel all the richness and harmony of aromas.
Hear break the tablet with your fingers and listen to the sensual sound it produces.
Taste the endless aromas that make chocolate a most intoxicating experience for the palate.

Meet the Only Woman in the World to Claim the Title of Chocolatier

Our Chocolate Itineraries let you follow the various processes of chocolate making, including explanatory videos and chocolate tasting, as you walk through the whole production process from the beans to the grains of cocoa and from the refinement of the mixture right through to the processing of the chocolate. You also learn the art of chocolate tasting. 

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