An Italian Chocolate Tour

Italians carry on a passionate love affair, un amore, with chocolate, be it the thick, dense cup of cioccolata calda that Casanova adored for its aphrodisiac qualities, or iconic bonbons like romantic baci (kisses) and the irresistible, gold-wrapped Ferrero Rocher, produced at the mind-boggling rate of 24 million units per day.

While the first person to bring cacao beans to Europe may have been Genoese – Christopher Columbus no less – Italy’s chocolate history actually began on the island of Sicily. In the same way that Belgium discovered chocolate earlier than its neighbours because it was under Spanish rule, Sicily, which was also part of Spain’s kingdom in the 16th century, was introduced to the wonders of Mexico’s xocóatl before the rest of Italy.

Travel to the baroque Sicilian town of Modica today and chocolate artisans grind a rough, grainy ‘cold’ chocolate, following the same techniques as the Aztecs, ignoring modern inventions like conching that create the refined, creamy chocolate