Chocolate festival 2012

Chocolate Festival

This past weekend we had the opportunity to enjoy the annual Cioccolando, the local chocolate festival in Vicenza. Every year in October, there are chocolate festivals throughout Italy. The ones I heard of this year included the one in Vicenza, the one in Soave and the larger one in Perugia. Various chocolate makers set up in the main piazzas of each town and offer samplings of their handmade chocolates. However, the most famous draw to the festival is the Italian version of hot chocolate. It was a rainy cold day in Vicenza but since it was the last day of the festival, I was bound and determined to get there. After all, this was MY Halloween. So we embarked upon our little adventure to downtown Vicenza.  We dodged a few rain puddles and followed the group of people headed towards the festival. My Italian instructor told us that there were supposed to be about 59 vendors but when we arrived, it seemed like fewer than that. I supposed the rain kept some back. But, nonetheless, the vendors there were all under their tents marked with Cioccolando, so I am guessing they are used to hosting this festival in the rain.

Immediately we spotted the hot chocolate. In fact, nearly every vendor had hot chocolate. My family was a little cold so we decided to grab some of it. Now I have been told stories about the Italians and their hot chocolate and how they prefer it thick. Our Italian teacher even told us about the hot chocolate and how anything less than what the Italians normally drink is considered “plastic” or fake. In other words, they don’t drink hot chocolate made by swiss miss. Nope. What I was handed was a cup of dark, thick chocolate soup. The inside of my cup was coated in a thick layer of chocolate. The drink itself was like drinking hot chocolate syrup from the Hershey’s bottle. I couldn’t finish it, the drink was too sweet, but my kids thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We wandered around a bit and began to see the same chocolate at every stand. We did purchase some dipped fruit, although I think it was sugar candy dipped in chocolate. They had lemon, orange, ginger, and pineapple. There were truffles of all shapes and sizes. Round ones rolled in pistachios, walnuts, almonds and chili powder. There were square truffles that tasted of orange and chocolate, strawberry and chocolate, and again, pepper covered chocolates. I also had a chance to taste the Italian version of fudge, which is a little thinner than our version. There were also little critters made out of chocolate, chocolate lollipops and chocolate covered candies. But I must say, the piece of art handcrafted by these chocolatiers was amazing. I saw chocolate in the shape of wrenches, hammers, padlocks, keys and other tools. In addition to the tools and such, the chocolatiers also had handcrafted Prada shoes for 15 euros, all chocolate.

Despite the rain and an aching sprained ankle, we had a great time and I cannot wait until next year’s festivities. I think we’ll try one of the other festivals though so we can do a little compare and contrast. As I sit and sip my hot chocolate with cream, I think to myself, I really enjoy my hot cup of “plastic”.