Turin Italy: Where chocolate began
Chocolate heaven in Italy
Carlos the tour guide tells a story of Chinese tourists in Turin. They go to a restaurant and look at the ever-present breadsticks on the table. They pick them up, examine them closely and use them as chopsticks. Food, he says, is culture.
If that’s true, Turin’s culture is wrapped up in chocolate. The city is ground zero for chocolate in Italy. It got its moment in the sun, like much of everything else in Turin, through the Savoy family. The Savoys were an 11th century ruling family in the part of the world where France, Italy and Switzerland come together. They built the city of Turin and were a force in the unification of Italy.
But I get ahead of my chocolate self.
Chocolate became a thing in Italy when, in 1587, Duke Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia allegedly debuted to society not his daughter but a liquid chocolate (AKA hot chocolate). The drink was created in honor of moving the head of the duchy from Chambrey (now France) across the mountains to Turin (now Italy).
Turin chocolatiers later learned how to turn liquid chocolate into chocolate bars. Chocolatiers from all over the world came to Turin to learn how to do this. Those chocolatiers were the innovators of their day but, like tech bros and other disrupters, they were often disparaged as being uncouth, uneducated, and un, well, regal. While the court of the Savoys loved their special chocolate, they looked down on those who made it.
I got my first taste of Turin chocolate at a famous historic café called Stratta.
Turin is filled with these glorious cafes, wood and glass emporiums, with Murano chandeliers, and sweets upon sweets upon sweets, colorful, indulgent and perfectly sized for tasty small bites (as any lady in the Savoy era would want). Stratta is one of the famous cafes and its specialty is gianduiotto.
Carlos the guide turned me on to gianduiotto. Gianduiotto takes chocolate to a new level. The outside is crushed hazelnut. The next layer is hard chocolate. Inside is chocolate gooeyness. A bite fills your mouth with a level of indulgence that produces unsolicited moans from the eater.
The true way to eat gianduiotto is to have a bite of the chocolate followed by a sip of coffee. Then repeat. And repeat It is a moment of inspiration and a reason to respect why the Savoys led Turin to such heights.
Making it is still a labor of love. According to Laura Falett, owner of the chocolate shop A. Giordano, “it requires a lot of passion, patience and precision. A bit like hand stitching. It can be quite tiresome, I need to rotate my gianduiere in shifts otherwise their hands get muscle cramps.”
As always, the hard work and patience pays off!
Where to get gianduiotto:
Stratta
Stratta S.r.l. | Piazza S. Carlo, 191 | 10123 Torino | +39 011 547920
infoshop@stratta1836.it
A. Giodano
Piazza Carlo Felice, 69, Torino
+39 011 547121