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 Italy is home to some of the world's finest chocolate companies, like Caffarel, Ferrero, Majani, Novi, Pernigotti, Perugina, Peyrano, Vanini and Venchi. Just one region of Italy--Piemonte--is home to more master chocolatiers than Belgium and France combined!
Several theories have been put forth as to the origin of chocolate candies, but it appears their birthplace was Turin, in Piedmont. The first chocolate candies were bite-size pieces of chocolate as large as an acorn, hand-molded out of a chocolate paste called "givu".
Chocolates are now made in many different shapes and flavors. Some of the most renowned Italian chocolates are Bacio, Mon Cheri, Rocher, Otello, Blue Rose, and Fiat.
ITALY'S MOST POPULAR CHOCOLATE
Gianduia
Italy's most important chocolate invention is gianduia. This delicious combination of chocolate and hazelnuts was created because of war!
In the 1700's, all chocolate came from the New World to Europe. Due to the Napoleonic war and subsequent blockades, there was a chocolate shortage. Piedmont, which is renowned for its hazelnuts, cleverly stretched their remaining supply of chocolate with ground hazelnuts, giving rise to this now world-famous Italian candy. In 2002 the recipe for gianduia chocolate was included in the Codex Alimentarius by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a body established in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
 Gianduiotti
Gianduiotti, which means "little gianduia", are small foil-covered triangle wedges of gianduia chocolate.
Gianduiotto wrapped in paper were given out by a Gianduja masked character at the 1865 Carnival in Turin. This is the first time that any chocolate candy in the world was paper wrapped.
|  | Crema di gianduja
Hazelnut-chocolate spreads too are an all-Italian invention. Several generations of children have grown up enjoying a breakfast or afternoon snack of bread topped with a delicious chocolate-hazelnut spread. |
Gianduia recipes
Gianduia Lava Cake
Gianduiotti Hot Chocolate
Gianduiotti Dessert Pasta
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GLOSSARY OF ITALIAN CHOCOLATES
| Baci
Baci, which means "kisses" are round chocolate-hazelnut candies created by the Perugina company in the 1920s. Baci have a hazelnut ganache center, topped with a whole hazelnut and coated in dark chocolate. They are wrapped in silver and blue foil paper and contain a message or poem inside.
Baci recipes:
Baci Pie
Baci Molten Lava Cake |  |
|  | Boero
A liqueur-filled dark chocolate candy with a whole cherry in the
center. |
| Cremini
Which means "Little creams" are a small cube of creamy chocolate with three layers of flavors. Usually there is a layer of dark, a layer of milk, and a layer of hazelnut chocolate.
Serving suggestions:
They are delicious eaten as they are, but also wonderful melted into coffee or espresso for instant café mocha. They can also be melted into a cup of hot milk for a delicious hot chocolate. |  |
| Rocher
Rocher, a round chocolate candy filled with creamy chocolate, crisp wafer, and a whole hazelnut, is covered with milk chocolate and finely chopped hazelnuts. The candies are made by Ferrero, which is based in the city of Alba in Piedmont. |  |
|  | Napolitains
Napolitains are small squares of individually wrapped chocolate, which can be of any type of chocolate-milk, dark, or white. They are a perfect size for tastings and many Italian chocolate companies create napolitains of mono-origin cocoa beans, and also of varing percentages of chocolate. Napolitains are often served with espresso in Italy, especially in Turin. |
| Nocciolato
An Italian specialty chocolate bar with locally produced Italian hazelnuts.
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| Uova di Pasqua--Easter eggs
A typically Italian tradition, born at the end of the 18th century, is to give chocolate eggs during Easter.
Italian chocolate manufacturers offer a wide variety of Easter eggs in varying sizes. The larger eggs often come filled with gifts, which depending on the intended recipient can be toys for children or designer sun glasses for adults. The outer gift wrapping too varies widely,  ranging from simple colored paper to elegant bows and elaborate decorations.
Chocolate shops throughout Italy will even put custom items into chocolate Easter eggs. Clients bring the gift-everything from an engagement ring to a cell phone or even a black lace nightie--to the shop, where they wait while it is encased in a chocolate egg. |
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>>MORE: Easter eggs dressed up by Italian couturiers | |
| Italian Chocolate History -- a slide show
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A note on cocoa butter
One reason Italian chocolate is so good is that Italians care so much about the purity of ingredients. For example, Italy bans genetically modified foods. But there is no better evidence for their concern for quality than the country's long battle with the European Union (EU) over cocoa butter. According to Mario Piccialuti, Director of AIDI (Italian Confectioners Association): "Since 2003 the EU permits chocolate to certain percentage of vegetable oils, like palm, to substitute for the more expensive cocoa butter. However, we Italians do not. By agreement, all members of AIDI use only 100% cocoa butter in their chocolates. Italian chocolate is "pure chocolate."
Ever since the 1930's, the quality of Italian chocolate has been acknowledged to deserve legislative consideration: Law # 916, enacted on April 9, 1931, regulated its production and marketing, making a clear differentiation between "chocolate" and imitation products, which were defined with the term "surrogate chocolate". Since 1973, chocolate production has been regulated on a European level, too.
In 2003 a new European Directive extended to all the Countries of the enlarged European Union the option to use a maximum of 5% of vegetable fats of tropical origin other than cocoa butter, according to the chocolate "recipe" used in north European countries.
On that occasion, all of the members of the Italian Confectioners Association (A.I.D.I.) expressed their strong willingness to be faithful to the quality tradition of Italian chocolate manufacturing. They decided to use only 100% pure cocoa butter in their chocolate and not add any tropical oils or other fats.
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