Italy Gelato and Chocolate Tour Bologna Florence and Perugia

Our Gelato and Chocolate Itineraries let you follow the various processes of making, including explanatory videos and tastings, as you walk through the whole production process.

Bologna and Gelato

12.000 BC to the 13^th Century AD in Mesopotamia, dispatch runners traveled one hundred kilometers on foot to get the snow and ice necessary to cool the drinks served during the royal banquets and religious ceremonies held at Mari Palace. During endless feasts, the Romans paraded their gold and silver colj nivarum, using them to filter the snow. The Arabs developed shrb (sugar syrup) and in Palermo they grew 400 different types of flowers to flavor their sorbets.

16^th to 18^th Centuries the birth of a noble trade Caterina de’ Medici and Cosimo Ruggieri, celebrated alchemist and astrologist, introduced the Florentine Renaissance to Paris. The architect Bernardo Buontalenti is credited with the egg cream gelato, but Francesco Redi and Lorenzo Magalotti made it famous by singing its praises and describing its ingredients. Francesco Procopio Cutò, later known as François Procope des Couteaux, sold sorbets to Parisian intellectuals in his café.

Neapolitan doctor Filippo Baldini wrote that sorbet is good both for your body and your mood

19^th Century Gelato Goes Global customs change and gelato and sorbets start to play significant roles in the menus of important luncheons and suppers. Sorbet, gelato, hard treats, and frozen creams appeared in the haute cuisine recipe books. With the invention of artificial ice, gelato moved out into the streets with the help of street vendors.

1900 – 1950 New Technologies the cone makes it easier to eat gelato in the streets, gelato shops appear and the Gelato Manual is published in Italy. Science and technology help gelato artisans with production innovations.

1950 – 1985 Gelato Becomes a Science consumption grows rapidly with industrial ice cream but artisans and suppliers commit to quality improvement and the pasteurizer guarantees food safety.

A Taste of Gelato Video

Florence

In between your gelato experience in Bologna and your chocolate adventure in Perugia you will visit Florence and its cultural and culinary traditions.

Perugia and Chocolate

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.
 

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.

Experiential Tourism

A Gelato and Chocolate Tour in Bologna Perugia and Florence