eurochocolate perugia umbria

Chocolate Delights in Umbria: taste, explore, study

Autumn is the season of intense flavors in Italy. And for those with a sweet tooth, the festival of festivals take place in Umbria, specifically in Perugia. It’s Eurochocolate, the largest chocolate festival in Europe!

Eurochocolate, Perugia, Umbria
Chocolate sculpting in Umbria – Credit: www.eurochocolate.com

Eurochocolate Festival

Held since 1993, Eurochocolate is an annual chocolate festival that takes place in the historic center of Perugia, the capital of Umbria in central Italy. It offers a variety of free chocolate activities including chocolate art displays, experimental chocolate tasting, street performances, and chocolatesculpting.This year, the Eurochocolate dates are between 14 and 23 October 2016. During these 10 days, there are different appointments revolving around chocolate. Some of the main attractions are:

Maxi CHOCO Selfie Stick (Piazza IV Novembre) – Everyday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., you can jump on the stage and shoot your special selfie next to the huge Eurochocolate installation: the only selfie stick that is 7 meters long, with a tempting chocolate bar that is 6.000 kilos heavy, instead of your smartphone! And if you share your selfie on @eurochocolate.official, you receive a chocolate gift.

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Eurochocolate World (Rocca Paolina) – Everyday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., there is an area dedicated to the Cocoa Producing Countries where visitors will discover the culture and flavours of the largest cocoa producers in the world.

Chocolate with the Writer – Everyday at 6 p.m. there is a series of meetings with national and international authors that will talk about their work while drinking hot chocolate with you.Chocolate Sculptures – On Sunday the 16th October you can admire real artists working on enormous chocolate blocks to realize wonderful sculptures.

Chocolate Show – Everyday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (on Saturday until 11 p.m.) – A mega-store set up along the streets of Perugia’s historic centre, the commercial area featuring over 140 of the most important names in the Italian and international chocolate industry (including small farms).

Master & Courses – Everyday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., there are courses for both chocolate lovers and professionals. Aimed at those wished to improve their knowledge on the use of chocolate in a wide range of ways and in learning more about this delicacy (e.g., Chocohouse Cooking, Chocohouse Sweet, Cioccolatomania, Master of Chocolate). 

Study in Umbria: chocolate, history and Italian language

If you would like to study and learn more in Umbria, expanding your knowledge beyond a short course on chocolate provided by Eurochocolate, you can join an Italian language course by Studiainitalia in Todi.

Todi is a town in the province of Perugia. It is perched on a hill overlooking the River Tiber with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. In the 1990s, Richard S. Levine, a professor of architecture at the University of Kentucky, chose Todi as the model sustainable city, because of its scale and its ability to reinvent itself over time. After that, the Italian press reports on Todi as one of the world’s most livable cities.

Among the attractions at Todi are the co-cathedral church (Duomo), the Palazzo del Capitano, the Palazzo del Priore and the Palazzo del Popolo. Dating back to the 11th century, Todi Cathedral is a Gothic edifice featuring a squarish façade with a central great rose-window added in 1513. The Palazzo del Popolo is a Lombard-Gothic construction already existing in 1213. Palazzo del Capitano, in Italian Gothic style, was built around 1293. Palazzo dei Priori was begun in 1293 and later enlarged as seat of the podestà, priors and the Papal governors.Near Todi, from October to February you can book a guided tour to discover the world of chocolate at Vannucci, a company that produces high quality, handcrafted chocolates in the respect of the most authentic tradition of Perugia. Tasting chocolate at Vannucci’s means experimenting and analysing its organoleptic traits while using all of your five senses. The expert guide during the tasting sessions leads you through the Visual, Tactile, Aural, Olfactive and Gustatory Analysis.

Vannucci Chocolate Factory, Umbria
At Vannucci Chocolate Factory – photo credit: www.vannuccichocolates.com

In a lovely historic building in the center of Todi, you will find the Italian language school that collaborates with Studiainitalia, a travel agency specialised in creative tourism and language courses in Italy. Intensive Italian courses are available all year round and consist of 4 Italian lessons per day. The lessons are held in comfortable settings with small homogeneous groups (maximum 8 students) in order to deepen students’ structural understanding of the language. The teaching method favours active participation and interaction in the classroom, promoting the student’s integration, both linguistic and cultural. The school also offers cultural courses, outdoor sports, and cooking classes. By the end of the course participants will receive a certificate of attendance stating their degree of Italian. Apart from a personalised service, if you need it Studiainitalia can also propose accommodation options including rooms in shared apartments with Italian hosts, rooms in shared apartments with international students, and Indipendent flats (Studios).

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