The Chocolate Masters of Piedmont

A visit to Piedmont is not complete if you don't cross the doorstop of a chocolate shop at least once.
Gianduiotto is the typical Piedmont chocolate variety and is shaped like a small gold ingot. As often happens with great inventions, the Gianduiotto was spawned in a moment of need and the driving force behind this exclusive chocolate's production was Napoleon Bonaparte.

In the early 19th century Napoleon imposed an import blockade on his enemy, England. The blockade posed problems for the ruling House of Savoy, whose King could no longer purchase precious cocoa from the British colonies. As a result, local chocolate masters began to save on cocoa by adding the sought-after hazelnuts of the Langhe district, a hilly area between Cuneo and Savona, famous for its extensive nut farms that stretch as far as the eye can see.

By 1813 when Napoleon's blockade ended, Piedmonte's chocolate industry was already firmly established. The Gianduia, that delightful hazelnut and cocoa blend, was well-known and prized throughout the Kingdom. Named after one of Piedmont's most characteristic marionettes, the Gianduia has endured with added flavour to our day.

Indeed, during World War II in the city of Alba, a key centre of the Langhe district, a new confectionary laboratory was born. This lab adopted the great chocolate innovations from Napoleon's era under the name of a then unknown proprietor, Pietro Ferrero. Today, this surname exports a piece of Piedmont to the world. After all, who hasn't at least once in a lifetime covered a slice of bread with that exquisite cream of cocoa, hazelnuts and milk that goes by the name of Nutella?