25-Marzo-2006

Let’s hear it for the chocolate festival. This annual tradition in Torino began yesterday and continues until April 2nd. If we do weigh ins before and after those dates, I think we might be able to scientifically conclude that I like chocolate a lot. We’ve been hearing about the festival since we started planning our trip, it was always one notch under the Olympics. Our school told us about a chocolate pass you could buy and taste a bunch of different chocolates… and that’s what we decided to do.

Casey, Jeff, Andrea and I went in search of a chocolate pass not knowing what to expect other than that we would be eating chocolate. The city of Torino sells the passes at information points around the city and we began there. We also knew that the center of all these happenings was taking place in Piazza San Carlo, which is where The Today Show was set up during the Olympics. As we were walking toward the Piazza we began to understand the Choco Pass and discovered that it was kind of like a scavenger hunt for chocolate. At different chocolate shops around Torino you could walk in and hand them your coupon good for a sample of their specialty chocolates. The sample could be just a few pieces of praline, the infamous Torino Gianduiotti, a cioccolata calda (hot chocolate) or a slice of cake. Oh yes, it was a good day.

Before we began our hunt, we decided to hit up the “Square of Chocolate,” that is what I’ve renamed Piazza San Carlo. Upon first glance, it looks like a circus. Every major chocolate maker in Italy has a huge tent set up. Some offer tastings, demonstrations, places to buy more chocolate than you could ever consume, and many other delectable treats. After reading the event pamphlet, we realized they have live music, Choco Creativity, Choco Lab, and Choco Shows. Who could ask for more, really? Since we knew that the Piazza wasn’t going anywhere, we decided to start our hunt.

We followed the map to little chocolate making shops in Torino, some of them close to the main Piazza, others WAY out of the way, but we made it to a good many of them today and plan to make it to the rest some time early this week. There was only so much chocolate goodness I could handle in one day. Almost as cool as going into the shops, were the displays that each of them had set up in windows. Mostly Easter related but all with tons of chocolate, the displays were extravagantly decorated and left me with only one thought, “Who gets to eat all that chocolate when this is all over?”

On our hunt, I made some very scientifically technical observations, for instance, the map sucked. If you are going to be sending people all over Torino, at least give people a big enough map so that all of the locations can be seen on it. Instead, they offered arrows pointing in the direction of the next shop (not cool). Next, since this is such a big deal, why don’t they have signs near the shops that say “Choco Pass accepted here!” Then instead of walking by three or four chocolate shops and not knowing where to go, the find would be easy. Apparently they thought we needed to work off our chocolate by having misleading information. The pamphlet for the hunt was well designed and partly in English (major applause) but some significantly important information was definitely left out. For instance, why am I given all these coupons and a map? Wouldn’t it be easier to provide me with a big plate of chocolate? This was my first thought as we started the game. Especially when our first location was closed for siesta. But after a little while, I began to appreciate the thrill of the hunt and now I know the best chocolate destinations in Torino. Not sure if that will be for the best or the worst yet. I’m planning on writing a letter that recommends all of these suggestions and then offering my services to ensure my place at chocolate festivals for years to come.

I’m going to go eat some chocolate!! :-)

PS. I still don’t understand why Italians think it’s cool to put chili peppers in chocolate… Maybe I’ll figure it out by April 2.