Perugia Etruscan gateway. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Problem
This year's Eurohcocolate show in Perugia was last weekend, October 21-22. The chocolate show in London at Olympia was the weekend before. What did you miss?
The show at London Olympia charged for entry.
Perugia's Eurochocolate Show
The Perugia chocolate show did not charge for entry. You could invest in a chococard which gave ten percent off various stalls and permanent shops in Perugia and around the region, for example, ten percent off a visit to a winery.
Chocolate Contest
The events included a competition to select the best chocolate maker.
Chocolate And Wine Pairing
Another event was about wine and chocolate pairing.
I went to a paid event at a chocolate shop in London, where we were served lots of chocolates and small tastes of wine to go with them. It really was remarkable that some pairings were particularly good. A heavy red wine with a dark or spicy chocolate. A white wine with white chocolate. And all shade in between. We tried each wine with the different chocolate flavours to see which went best.
Chocolate Sculpture
The centrepiece of the Perugia show was a giant slab of chocolate, chipped away with what looked like an axe. What was the chocolate sculptor making? To me, it looked like he was making a heart to symbolize I love chocolate.
So, was it just lots of chocolate stands trying to sell you chocolate? Did you really get to see anything new?
Yes. An amazing number of different products can be made from chocolate. Chocolate can be made in different colours to enrobe nuts and cocoa beans. Not just dark chocolate, regular chocolate and white chocolate, also red and blue and other colours.
You can make chocolate into swirls like Catherine wheels on lollipops. Or a truffle served on a stick with coconuts or sesame seed, like a selection of canapeés or truffles on sticks.
Speaking of truffles, another speciality of the Umbrian region is truffles in chocolate.
Novelties include chocolate made in the shape of a CD.
For those with special diets, one stand offered gluten free and vegan chocolate.
To buy chocolate on line, there's an i-chocolate website. They were offering a smartphone cover which looks like a slab of chocolate, key rings with two chunks of mock chocolate, one with a bite taken out of it. You can also buy and wear ear-rings for pierced ears depicting chocolate ice cream in wafer cones. Other gifts for yourself or friends include tee-shirts with slogans about chocolate, and an umbrella with a white background and a pattern of chocolates scattered across it.
Their website was in Italian. I am learning Italian on duolingo.
What else is in Perugia?
Make sure to see the underground city, dating from way back. For years it was filled with rubble. Then one day they found the interest and the money in clearing it away. You will now find shops underground in the passageways. Impressive. Historic.
Perugia underground.
It's free to enter. Just look for the escalator going down, leading to the passage way underground. One end is near the large hotel above. Another end is down by the gate. Anybody in Perugia will tell you where.
Useful Websites:
The Eurochocolate website is in Italian. It has accounts of all the past chocolate shows in Perugia, as well as directions for getting to Perugia by all kinds of transport.
This is an annual event in Perugia, one of the largest in Europe, attracting a million visitors every year. So plan on going next year. Try chocolates to eat, drinking chocolate and chocolate liqueurs. Mmm! More events are held in Rome, Turin, Naples and Sicily.
You can like eurochocolate on their Facebook page and see photos of visitors sitting in front of a giant chocolate piano.
Italian Chocolate
Perugia is the place where they started the best known Italian chocolate, from the Perugina company, now oned by Nestle. Their product which you will see in the Perugia shops is the Baci, Italian for kiss. It is a chocolate with a hazelnut in the centre. The chocolate is wrapped with a foil which has blue stars. The chocolates have a love message in one of several languages: English, French, German, Greek, Spanish, or Portuguese. They are sold loose or in small quantities, very expensive. Better value is a larger box.
My first thought was that I didn't know any Italian chocolate makers. But, of course, I do. Ferrero Rocher and Nutella are also Italian, and worldwide favourites. Time to try some more Italian chocolates, of which there are many.
Great Hotels
For major events, book early to get a good hotel at a good price.
For this chocolate event, my first choice would be Chocohotel. But they might be fully booked.
http://chocohotel.it/en/
I stayed at the Hotel Monterone See my other posts. A restored castle. Great for a romantic break.
https://www.castellomonterone.com The outdoor pool is open in summer.
Always check if the pool or spa at a hotel will be open if that is on your list of must haves.
I tried the spa at another hotel. Maybe lose some of those calories. It's called the Borgo Brufa Spa Resort. We sat in hot water outdoors in November under the fading sky with an underwater jet massage. Heavenly.
http://www.borgobrufa.it
They say, 'it's not what you know but who you know'. If you are in the restaurant business and buy truffles from this region, be sure to take up an offer of an introduction to meet those in the truffle business. Not the truffle chocolate but the savoury truffles, like mushrooms. I loved their chocolate covered truffles. I haven't seen them for sale anywhere. They are an acquired taste. I wasn't sure I liked the first one. So I kept trying them until I acquired the taste!
http://www.urbanitartufi.it
Truffle chocolates from http://www.urbanitartufi.it
CHOCOLATE INFO
https://www.baciperugina.it
https://www.perugina.com/it
www.Eurochocolate.com (Info on the 2017 exhibition in Perugia, the next one in 2018 and others before and elsewhere.)
TRAVEL & TOURISM INFO
Next year's Eurochocolate in Perugia, Umbria, Italy, runs from 12 to 21 October 2018.
www.umbria.it
www.duolingo.com
www.visititaly.it
http://www.eurochocolate.com/news
https://www.alitalia.com/en_gb
www.ryanair.com (flies to Italy from Stansted, England, UK)
http://www.comune.perugia.it/pagine/siti-tematici
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g187907-Activities-Perugia_Province_of_Perugia_Umbria.html
Author,
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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