Every October, since 1993, the small town of Perugia in Umbria becomes a mecca for chocolate lovers. Eurochocolate is the biggest festival of its kind in Europe that attracts almost one million visitors, visit it with a personalized tours of Italy! For ten days, the streets and squares of the old town centre turn into a magic Willy Wonka chocolate paradise, although, there are no secrets here. On the contrary, you can learn everything you want about the world of chocolate making, taste 6000 sweet delights brought to the festival by 100 companies from around the world.
This year’s theme (it varies for every festival’s edition) is “chocolate moustache (Mustachoc)” and the festival opened with a chocolate sculpture show: Andrea Gaspari, a famous Italian sculpture carved enormous Mustachoc from a 3,000 kg bloc of dark delish. 4,35 metres wide and 1,68 high, the moustache, naturally, ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest ever! In the Eurochocolate World section, visitors can meet cacao producers from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Ghana, Gabon, taste traditional cacao and chocolate-based dishes. For the refined palates, there is a chocolate boutique with sophisticated flavours and limited edition treats as well as a vegan and fair trade sections. In the ChocoGadget area you can find the most delicious and amusing souvenirs: smartphone covers, USB keys, magnets, coat hungers, cups, bottle openers… all made from chocolate. Every day there are demonstrations where masters chocolatier share their secrets and teach the curious how to make the most finger-licking desserts, elaborate cake designs and even… paint with chocolate.
During your personalized tours of Italy when you get tired of tasting and “wowing” at all those edible masterpieces, head to the Chocofarm for some serious sweet pampering. Chocoscrub, chocomassage and chocomanicure will re-energise you for more sweet explorations. Photos by: Gian Luigi Perrella, Eurochocolate/Facebook
