The valley of chocolate: discovering the best chocolate in Tuscany

November 4, 11:57 PMItalian Living ExaminerSerenella Leoni

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One of life’s great pleasures is definitely chocolate! I am very excited by the recent successes of the "Valley of Chocolate" in Tuscany.  The area between Pisa and Prato (near Florence) has developed into THE place where great artisanal chocolate is produced.

Many people are already familiar with Amedei chocolate www.amedei.com. For the third year in a row, this chocolate maker in Pontedera has won the Golden Bean award for “the best bean to bar chocolate in the world” from the London Academy of chocolate.  Started by brother and sister Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri in 1990, Amedei produces the highest quality chocolate using the best cocoa beans from Central and South America. Their products include Amedei Porcelana Single Origin Dark Chocolate - 70% Cocoa, an ultra luxury chocolate.  Amedei is also known for their concerns for carefully selecting the farms and farmers they work with and campaigning for fair treatment and living conditions for them and their workers.

Other famous chocolate makers in this area are Federico Salza of Pisa http://www.salza.it, Simone de Castro of Montopoli, Adrea Slitti of Monsummano Terme http://www.slitti.it, Corsini of Pistoia, Cioccolato &C of Massa e Cozzile in Pistoia, Caffe Pasticceria Rivoire in Florence (their hot chocolate is so legendary that I even ordered it on the hottest days of summer), Paul de Bondt from Pisa, Luca Mannori http://www.mannoriespace.it the patisserie champion creator of the "Seventh Veil Cake" (composed of 7 different kinds of chocolate) and Roberto Catanari, the originator of the entire ‘chocolate movement.’
The goal is for Tuscany to become known for the quality and origins of their handmade, high quality chocolate production in the same way as they are known for the production of art, wine and for their landscapes of unparalleled beauty.

None of this is truly surprising as Tuscany's history with chocolate goes back centuries. Christopher Columbus was not impressed with the chocolate he sampled. Cortes was told chocolate was an aphrodisiac and brought it back to Europe.  Chocolate remained "Spanish" until a Florentine traveler Antonio Carletti described the process of making chocolate to the Duke of Tuscany in the 17th century.  Chocolate quickly radiated out from Florence to the other major cities in Italy.