Being a declared chocoholic, when I first heard of the Eurochocolate festival a few years ago, I promised myself I would go one day. The festival was held twice this year – in March in Modica and between 13-21 October in Perugia, home of the delightful Perugina.

I caught up with it in Perugia and it was a sublime experience for chocolate-lovers and everyone else alike. After having consulted various guidebooks, I decided to visit the festival mid-week as apparently the weekend is to be avoided, if one can help it. On arrival I immediately realised why; the centro storico of Perugia, and particularly the few roads in which the festival takes place, are small and the amount of people visiting the festival is huge.

People flocked from one stand to the other in the joyous and colourful atmosphere to the tune of Cacao Meravigliao and other chocolate-inspired songs.

Eurochocolate Perugia 2007

One of the best things about the chocolate festival is that you can get to try many different products – some produced exclusively for the festival, free of charge. The Perugina stand as well as the Novi stand were handing out goodies, and the Caffarel stand provided tasters of their crema da spalmare. Most other stands included pieces of chocolate on plates so as to tempt the passer-by with delicious one assaggio into buying much more than he really should.

A peculiarity is the fact that this festival has become so commercial is that it is not entirely limited to chocolate. Rather amusingly, there was a stand of the Italian Esercito, seeking new recruits. I fail to understand how chocaholics would be ideal candidates for the army, but perhaps that is just me.

Similarly there were stands of non-chocolate-oriented commercial entities like TIM, Coca-Cola Zero and Nestea. There was also a stand selling truffles and other food including truffles like a delicious formaggio al tartufo and truffle paste.

Adding to the atmosphere there were numerous street artists and vendors of handmade jewellery and other knick-knacks.

Some shops also contribute to the chocolate festival; one particularly notable one was Bata, the shoe store which displayed chocolate boots in its window. The boots were actually rather deceiving; they were so beautifully constructed that one could easily mistake them for the real thing.

The festival is known for the creative wares that are on sale – all made out of chocolate of course. There were batteries made out of chocolate, called Choco-Power, pastilles named Chocoprin-A made out of dark chocolate and containing vitamin A and vitamin C and trowels of course, also made out of chocolate. There were also salamis made out of chocolate, some sold alone and some sold in a package with a real salami. And of course, there was the usual chocolate pasta, in various shapes and forms. It really went on to show that where creativity is involved, the sky is the limit!

There were also various chocolate liquors, each of which could be tasted – they were simply divine.

Having looked forward to this day for a very long time, I had prepared myself that just for these two days, any concept of dieting or holding back on the food would be thrown out the window. So apart from the various freebies handed out, I had the most amazing hot chocolate. Keen on trying out an artiginale brand which would not be readily available at home, I wandered round the stands looking for the one which seemed best. My criteria were simple – fondente, thick and smelling delicious. After some walking around I found the perfect one and it was just as I had hoped it would be – so thick you could eat it with a spoon and so dark it left me thirsty.

Another product available from most stands was fresh chocolate – roughly cut out from large slabs and then weighed. Wondering whether there was any difference between this and the pre-packaged stuff, I immediately bought my 100g of gianduia fondente for which I paid EUR4.00. Although rather expensive, this was by far the best gianduia I had ever tasted in my life. It was so rich and so dark I was unable to eat it at one go and had to save half for the evening.

My day had just begun so I started walking around the stalls and noticed that there were various chocolate-coated fruits on sale. Trying to kid myself into believing that this is a healthy option, I selected the largest fruit I could see – an apple. I have tasted toffee apples before and loved them, but never a chocolate apple. But this was definitely a pleasant surprise – I could have eaten another 10 of them. Having such a large fruit meant I had less chocolate but this was for me, who had just savoured a large amount of chocolate, a slight relief.

Novi chocolate slab for Guinness World Records

One of the highlights of this festival was the Novi chocolate slab which weighed 3,580kg, was 487,50cm long, 238,50cm wide and 28cm wide – the chocolatiers Elah Dufour Novi created this gigantic slab of Novi Fondentenero in an attempt to place their name yet another time in the Guinness World Records.

Perugia

Perugia is such a beautiful, quaint town it would not be right to visit the festival only and see nothing of Perugia itself. Thus I attempted a quick visit to a couple of places recommended to me by the hotel and my various guidebooks.

Perugia is the capital city of the Umbria region, right in the centre of Italy. Its centro storico is replete with narrow alleyways and imposing, severe buildings. Yet in stark contrast with this, a bit out of the centre there is the calming countryside, graced with a luscious palette of greens, browns and yellows.

Perugia is a dream for anyone interested in architecture: the Etruscan and the Medieval intermingle in complete harmony. It is also famous for the works of art, particularly those found at the National Gallery of Umbria, situated in the Palazzo dei Priori in Corso Vanucci. The collection at this gallery is said to be the largest collection of its kind in the centre of Italy.

Perugia also offers many typical Umbrian dishes ranging from the simple but exquisite Penne alla Norcina made with sausage and panna, a typical dish of the close-by Norcia to hunting fare such as deer and wild boar. The typical Umbrian caciotta cheese is something to die for if you like soft cheese. I also managed to find a pizzeria which served the most delicious pizza – wafer-thin base, divine tomato sauce and the freshest ingredients of choice on top.

Scale mobili

The scale mobile of Perugia are a very interesting peculiarity. They are free to use and facilitate access to the centro storico. They are basically a system of escalators to transport people from one part of the city to another. I used one such escalator from beneath Piazza Italia through Rocca Paolina to get to the bus station further below in Piazza Partigiani.

Rocca Paolina

The chocolate festival continued even down here, with many stands, some offering products which were not available at stands other than these within the rocca.

Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese, 1468-1549) commissioned the military architect Antonio da Sangallo “the Younger” to build the Rocca Paolina in 1540 after the Pope conquered the Perugians in what is known as the “Salt War”. Hundreds of houses, many churches and other buildings were demolished to make way for the Rocca Paolina. Some of the stone of the demolished buildings was actually used for the construction of the rocca. Among these demolitions, perhaps more notably, many houses belonging to the Baglioni family, which the Pope despised so much, were razed to the ground. Luckily the Etruscan Porta Marzia was left standing and may still be admired to this day.

The Rocca Paolina stood as a testimony of the grandeur and strength of papal dominion. It was a reminder to the Perugians, in their own town, that they had been defeated by the papacy. It is therefore no surprise that it was hated by many, and its demolition was very much wanted. But it took until 1848 for the first act of demolition to take place. This was then completed in 1860 with the unification of Italy. However some parts of the rocca were retained so that they now stand not only as a historical reminder of what once was but also as an exhibition venue and, in this case, the venue for part of the chocolate festival.

The rocca is made up of a number of roads and squares, which actually each have their own name – it really is like an underground town. The scale mobili facilitate a walk around the rocca as well as provide transport from the higher parts of the town to the lower ones and vice versa.

Porta Marzia

Porta Marzia (3rd Century BC) is one of the oldest gates remaining testimony to the presence of Etruscans in Perugia. It was incorporated into Rocca Paolina by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger to give this fortification a grander entrance.

Destination Perugia-Roma

After two glorious chocolate-eating days, it was time to return to Rome. The Eurochocolate experience is definitely one to remember; and to hopefully be repeated!