EuroChocolate 2023, an annual chocolate festival, is set to come off in the Italian city of Perugia from the 13th to the 22nd of October.
The festival deemed one of the largest chocolate festivals in Europe has captivated chocolate aficionados since its inception in 1994.
EuroChocolate, which takes place in the city of Perugia, draws about one million visitors annually, including tourists and Italian natives.
The festival runs for nine days and is located in the squares and areas of Piazza Italia, Piazza Della Repubblica, Corso Vannucci, Via Mazzini, Via Fani, The Terrace of the Covered Market, and Piazza IV Novembre.
The 29th edition is expected to host over 400 exhibitors and companies including the Nestle-owned popular Italian chocolate manufacturer Perugina, represented alongside other traditional brands like Lindt and Caffarel.
EuroChocolate offers a variety of activities including chocolate art displays, chocolate tastings, street performances, and chocolate art.
In recent years, an igloo has been constructed out of 3,600 kilograms (7,900 lb) of chocolate bricks.
The latest addition to the event is a new partnership between organisers and Cacao of Excellence to celebrate quality cocoa and its producers at the 2023 Eurochocolate Festival.
Together, they intend to present the culture, history and extraordinary producers of the ancient cocoa crop.
This year’s event has an even greater significance since the news of a new exciting adventure, the forthcoming construction in the historic building of the Covered Market of Perugia of “The City of Chocolate”: a permanent structure ( 2,800 m2 ) dedicated exclusively to the world of cocoa and chocolate which will be inaugurated in October 2024 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Eurochocolate.
The innovative facility will feature a demonstration farm and chocolate demonstration lab, providing visitors with a captivating experience that walks the entire journey from cocoa to chocolate.
With the construction of this state-of-the-art facility, the company reaffirms its commitment to the cocoa industry and promotes an inclusive vision for the future of chocolate.
All the energy of the Food of the gods between solidarity and choco trips in the cocoa lands, maxi sculptures, workshops, cooking shows, experiential itineraries and lots of themed fun.
This year’s theme playfully interpreted scientist Albert Einstein’s extremely popular formula E=mc² as Eurochocolate = a lot of chocolate.
“If, as Einstein taught us, a very small amount of matter contains an enormous amount of energy, this is particularly true for chocolate which has been one of the most loved sources of it for centuries,” the organisers said in a press release.
They added, “It is precisely on the fascinating and still little-known raw material from which chocolate originates, cocoa, which, between the active presence of international producers and solidarity projects, one of the focuses of the next edition will be concentrated.”