Two Sisters On The Road

An important mention goes to La Casa del Cioccolato, which is a mandatory stop if you are in the Umbrian land. You cannot miss this incredible experience, it’s an interesting journey into the world of chocolate from the Museum to the visit of the Factory. Whether you are an adult, a teenager, a young traveler, an adventurer, or simply a man or a woman who wants to take his/her family, La Casa Del Cioccolato is a world that attracts everyone. You surely won’t regret it!

The heart of Perugina beats a few kilometers from the center of Perugia, in a place full of emotions: Casa del Cioccolato Perugina is a unique place in the world where you can be fascinated by a magical journey to discover the “food of the gods” with an extraordinary history. The Perugina Chocolate House is located inside the Perugina factory in San Sisto, just 15 minutes from the historic center. It can be easily reached, if you find yourself in Perugia. Indeed, from there you can get a local bus that takes you to San Sisto in few minutes.

The whole tour lasts about an hour and a half, the visit is always guided by experts who explain the origin of Perugina chocolate, the history of the factory by telling us the ancient processing techniques. The only way to visit the museum is through a required reservation. The tour is not individual, but it’s done with other people.

The tour begins as soon as you walk through the front door, where you are greeted by a giant poster that reads: Welcome to Casa del Cioccolato Perugina, A journey from the origins of cocoa to your favorite chocolate.

Once inside, you have to go on line to the cashier who gives you the tickets you had previously reserved, and wait to enter with your group. The tour begins from the Historical Museum, letting yourself be enchanted by the history of Perugina by sitting and watching a short introductory video, full of images and interesting historical dates. I will mention only some of the most important ones, so that I won’t reveal everything:

• On the 30th of November, 1907 in Perugia, Francesco Buitoni, Leone Ascoli, Francesco Andreani, and Annibale Spagnoli set up a confetti workshop destined to become an industry, La Società Perugina production of sugared almonds.

• In 1919 the first Italian shop opened, instead in 1939 the first American shop opened on Fifth Avenue.
• In 1922 a new chocolate was born from Luisa Spagnoli’s hands, called the “Cazzotto“. Then, Giovanni Buitoni renamed it Bacio Perugina ,with its distinctive sweet message of love inside, called cartiglio. And that’s how we still know it today, indeed it has become an icon in the world.

• In 2007 for the occasion of Perugina’s centenary, La Casa del Cioccolato was born: a unique place in the world.

After watching a historical video that lasted 15 minutes, the itinerary is dedicated to visitors to taste different and exquisite chocolates Perugina. Have you ever tasted a Bacio Perugina taken directly from the production line? It only happens here! It is the apotheosis of pleasure that reserves for the palate the encounter with the most authentic flavor of quality chocolate.

Afterwards, the itinerary continues in the Museum Gallery rich in materials taken from the vast Buitoni Perugina Historical Archive: images, wrappings, packaging, and films including the collection of timeless commercials that arouse amazement and pleasant memories in all generations. A section is dedicated to the world of cocoa: the history, the ancient processing techniques up to the modern production process.

Particular importance is given to the history of the mythical and legendary Bacio Perugina: from the intuition of the great Luisa Spagnoli, to the record-breaking Bacio that stands out inside the Museum.

In 2003 the outstanding Bacione was created, and it was considered the largest chocolate in the world, entering the Guinness Book of Records with its 7 meters in circumference, 2.15 meters in height and its 5,980 kg of weight. It was made entirely of chocolate and it was transported to the centre of Perugia, where all the citizens, tourists, and visitors couldn’t wait to taste it. Since then it has been on display at the Museum with a faithful reproduction and with which all the tourists and visitors take a picture. Another record-breaking figure is the realization, in 2010 in Perugia, of the longest cartouche in the world, it was 200 meters long.

This tasty journey culminates in the direct experience of a course at the School of Chocolate, the place where Perugina shares passion, experience, and creative ability with chocolate enthusiasts. From the inside of the museum you are able to watch people create chocolates, and if you are interested and have time you can follow the courses of the Master Pastry Chefs and create small masterpieces of goodness and original sweets.

From Monday to Friday you are also able to watch, from an elevated path, the factory where employees work, allowing visitors to observe from above, from a glass window, the means they use and how they work, compatibly with their calendar the production of Perugina delicacies. Unfortunately, on Saturday the factory is closed, and and you cannot see it.

Having decided to go on a Saturday, instead of seeing the way the employees work in the factory, we joined a master chocolatier, who created Baci Perugina in front of our eyes in a smaller format, also giving us more useful and suitable advice if we wanted to create them at home. It was an extraordinary experience!

After taking several pictures of the Museum, the last part of the visit is dedicated to the Perugina Shop, where visitors can buy a wide range of chocolates, from the traditional bacio, to new products they created recently, with various variations. You can taste many different flavours: from an enveloping coffee bacio, to a milk chocolate bacio, to an harmonious white chocolate bacio, to the raspberry-flavoured gianduja heart, to a soft gianduja heart wrapped in a refined milk and caramel flavoured coating, capable of enriching and enhancing the taste of delicately roasted hazelnuts, that will win you over, to fresh lemon-flavored grains with crunchy whole hazelnuts, all wrapped in a delicate white chocolate coating with notes of vanilla, and last but not least, the extraordinary dark chocolate one that gives you a unique moment of pleasure.

Each one is completely different, unique, enveloping you with its sweetness, leaving in your mouth that taste of a perfect chocolate that captures the palate. A jewel that fascinates and excites, an irresistible experience of pleasure that conquers at your first bite.

Surely it was an extraordinary experience, an intense, interesting, and sweet journey into the world of chocolate. It is certainly an unmissable, exciting stop, because it manages to combine the history, the past of the factory with the various new chocolates produced annually and exported all over the world. A unique and world-famous brand!