CioccolaTo, the chocolate festival in Turin, begins today March 25 and lasts until April 3. As a preview and to celebrate Italy's 150 years of unification, there is a special chocolate exhibition that began March 17 and lasts until the end of CioccolaTo. The preview includes storyboards that point out important dates in both the history of Italy and the history of chocolate in Italy. Along with the storyboards, the shape of Italy is carved in one gigantic boot of chocolate, and there are also the two islands, Sicily and Sardegna. In addition, there is a chocolate sculpture of an important monument from each of Italy's 20 regions.
Giuseppe Garibaldi sculpted in Chocolate
Below, are photos of each of the chocolate monuments. I found myself trying to guess which each monument was, so I thought it would be fun for you to do the same. To make things a little easier, under the photo of the "monument," I've listed the region in which you would find it.
There are prizes, too. Chocolate prizes - two of them!! Everyone that leaves a comment with their guesses will be put in a random drawing for an assortment of chocolates I've picked up from the CioccolaTo festival in Turin. (I'm certain all of you can easily identify at least 2 of the monuments.) The first person to name all 20 of the monuments correctly, or the person who names the most correctly, will also win an assortment of chocolates.
I've listed the regions from Sicily and Sardegna and then headed north. In the last photo, I've combined four regions in the northwest of Italy, but you need to name each monument for each region as it's listed. For the other photos, the monument in question is always in the forefront of the photo. Calabria doesn't really have a monument, but instead two chocolate men.
The deadline for the contest is midnight (California time) March 31, 2011. On April 1st, I'll post the answers and the winners of the prizes and your chocolate prizes will be mailed to you. Anyone can enter. Good luck everyone!
Sicily - The Temple della Concordia in Agrigento
Sardinia - Le Nuraghe
Calabria - The Bronzi di Riace statues housed in the Museo Nazionale Magna Grecia in Reggio-Calabria
Puglia - The Trulli
Basilicata - Sassi di Matera (Stone caves/houses in Matera)
Campania - Castel Nuovo (also known as the Maschio Angioino) in Naples
Lazio - The Coliseum in Rome
Molise - Castello Monforte in Campobasso
Abruzzo - The Fortezza Spagnola in L'Aquila
Le Marche - Santuario di Loreto in Loreto
Umbria - Fontana Maggiore in Perugia
Tuscany - The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Emilia-Romagna - The Torre degli Asinelli in Bologna
Veneto - The Campanile di San Marco in Venice
Friuli-Venezia-Giulia - The Miramare Castle in Triest
Trentino-Alto Adige - Castello di Buonconsiglio in Trento
Four regions (from left to right) - Val d'Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy -
Porta Pretoria in Aosta, Mole Antonellina in Turin, Lanterna di Genova in Genova, the Duomo in Milan
Note: For those of you following my travels in Italy this month, I have gone a little out of chronological order and fast forwarded a bit through my travels. Before I landed in Turin, I also spent time eating my way through Naples, most of the time with Napoli Unplugged and then in the Salento region in Puglia. A few internet connection problems, and well, having way too much fun in Puglia put me a little behind. Look for lots of posts on both those areas soon along with more on chocolate from Turin.
Related Posts:
Scenes from CioccolaTo - Chocolate Festival in Turin
History of Chocolate in Turin - Gianduja and Much More
Eurochocolate Perugia - Italy's Biggest Chocolate Festival
Gianduja Budino and a Chocolate Pass in Turin
Gianduja Nutella Cheesecake for World Nutella Day 2010
Nutella Love Cake for World Nutella Day 2011
Seven Sensational Gelaterie in Turin - After 100 Scoops
Everyone Should Eataly in Turin
Torta Setteveli - Seven Veils cake from Palermo
Torta Caprese - Flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake from Capri
Easter Chocolates in Paris Windows
What a marvelous idea! I've been looking for a good Italian lesson for Cameron and this contest will be perfetto!!! What a great way for him to learn about Italy.
Also, the whole concept of the exhibit is very clever - I would be in heaven there (except maybe not, since I would not be able to EAT the chocolate, just look at it). But no doubt there were MANY wonderful chocolate items for SALE in the negozio di souvenir :-)
Posted by: Paula | March 25, 2011 at 03:44 PM
I can't identify them all but almost - temple at Segesta, Sicily; Nuraghi in Sardinia; bronzes of Riace in Calabria; trulli in Puglia; Castel nuovo in Naples, Campania; colosseum in Rome, Lazio; the castle (museum) in L'Aquila, Abruzzo; the fountain in Perugia's piazza, Umbria; the leaning tower of Pisa, Tuscany; the leaning towers in Bologna, Emilia Romagna; the bell tower in Venice, Veneto; the mole in Torino, Piedmont;and the duomo in Milano, Lombardy.
Posted by: Ciaochowlinda | March 27, 2011 at 07:32 AM
This is the most amazing chocolaty artform I have ever seen!!
Posted by: Corinne @ Gourmantic | March 27, 2011 at 03:57 PM
This is a joint entry with my son, Cameron. We identified them all but a couple are indefinite because (even tho the chocolatiers are great, they took a few liberties!). Here's our entry:
Sicilia: Tempio della Concordia in Valle dei Templi / Sardegna: nuraghe / Calabria: Statui Bronzi di Riaca / Puglia: Trulli / Basilicata: Sassi di Matera / Campagna: Maschio Angiono (o Castel Nuovo), in Napoli / Lazio: il Colosseo, in Roma / Molise: Castello Monforte / L’Aquila: Castello Forte Spagnolo, in Abruzzo / Le Marche: Basilica di Loreto /Umbria: La Fontana Maggiore di Perugia / Toscana: Torre Pendente di Pisa
Emilia-Romagna: Due Torri dell’Asinello, in Bologna / Veneto: Torre nella Piazza San Marco, Venezia / Friuli-Venezia-Giulia: Castello Miramare, in Trieste / Trentino-Alto Adige: Castello del Buonconsiglia, in Trento / Val d'Aosta: (not sure) Sant’Orso? / Piemonte: Mole Antonelliana, in Torino / Liguria: Torre della Lanterna, in Genoa /Lombardia: Il Duomo di Milano.
Posted by: Paula | March 27, 2011 at 04:10 PM
You can enter me individually for the drawing!! I want to win some chocola-TO!(Cameron really got a kick out of the name of the event - Chocolate in TOrino (Chocola-TO).
Also, your contest did the trick, Kathy - it revived his enthusiasm about Italy and Italian!!
Grazie :-)
Posted by: Paula | March 27, 2011 at 04:12 PM
(Actually, just kidding about entering me individually)!
Posted by: Paula | March 28, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Wow - After reading the results from everyone, I know that I don't stand a chance of winning. I could only identify the temple in Segesta, the colosseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Tuscany. I hope that somehow I might get one piece of chocolate! By the way, this is a great display of chocolates.
Posted by: Jozee | March 28, 2011 at 09:43 PM
Hey, Jozee - don't give up! Just guessing gets you an entry, remember?! ... Besides, somehow I suspect you'll get to taste some of the chocolate if you haven't already :-)
Posted by: Paula | March 30, 2011 at 03:52 PM
Let's give this a go- the Leaning Tower of Pisa,
from the Mole, the symbol of Piedmont to the Duomo in Milan
for Lombardy, the Roman port of Aosta to praetorian Lanterna.
the Veneto region could only be the Campanile di San Marco,
while for the Friuli Venezia Giulia the Miramare Castle in Trieste
and the Trentino the sumptuous residence of the princes of Trento, Castello del Buonconsiglio. Emilia Romagna here down to the rise Towers Asinelli and nearby Garisenda
Umbria and Marche are represented by the Fontana Maggiore of Perugia and from the Sanctuary of Loreto, the Aquila Abruzzo from Spanish Fort, also known as the sixteenth-century castle and the solitary Castel Monforte Molise in Campobasso.
A huge and beautiful Coliseum is the landmark of Lazio, while another well-known monument is to represent the Naples Campania: Male Angioino.
Basilicata is known worldwide for its famous Sassi of Matera and Chocolate could only choose to play as a symbolic monument in chocolate, as well as the trulli in Puglia, the beautiful Bronze Statues for Calabria, the imposing Temple of Concordia in Agrigento and finally, the Nuraghe in Sardinia.
What a great day to come by and check out your blog-did someone say chocolate???
Posted by: Esme | March 30, 2011 at 08:53 PM
I need to get back to Italy! I should know there. Thanks for the fun post!
1. Tempio della Concordia, Sicily; 2. ?; 3. Bronzi di Riace, Calabria; 4. Trulli, Puglia; 5. ?; 6. Castel Nuovo, Campania; 7. Colosseo, Lazio (Roma); 8. Castello Monforte, Molise; 9. Castello Spagnolo, L'Aquila; 10. Santuario della Santa Casa, Le Marche; 11. La Fontana Maggiore, Umbria; 12. Torre di Pisa, Tuscany; 13. Torre degli Asinelli, Emilia Romagna; 14. Campanile di San Marco, Veneto; 15. Castello di Miramare, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia; 16. Castello di Rovereto, Trentino-Alto Adige; 17. ?; 18. Mole Antonelliana, Piedmont; 19. La Lanterna di Genova, Liguria; 20. Il Duomo di Milano, Lombardy
Posted by: Chocophilenyc | March 31, 2011 at 05:39 PM
Thanks everyone for the comments and for guessing. All of you did really well. Congratulations to Esme! You named all 20 of the monuments correctly and you'll be receiving your chocolate shortly. Also, congratulations to Cameron & Paula (a joint entry). Your guess was chosen in the random drawing. You two also did marvelously naming 19 of the monuments correctly.
I've added the names of each monument and its location under the photo of it above. Look for a wrap up of the festival (with more photos of chocolate) very soon.
Posted by: Kathy | April 01, 2011 at 04:18 PM
Thank you-given I gave up chocolate for lent this will be a nice way to end it.
Do I need to send you my address?
Posted by: Esme | April 01, 2011 at 07:45 PM
Congratulations, Esme ... what an expert on Italy you are!! We were stumped by the Val d'Aosta site. We've never been there, so we'll have to go now and see it for ourselves.
And thanks to the "god of randomness" for winning us a consolation prize!
Posted by: Paula | April 02, 2011 at 11:10 AM
Fantastic post! Really stunning.
Does it get better? Chocolate. Italy. A chocolate Italy out of Italian chocolate?
I recently reviewed a tour in Miami in which the gelato maker's home town was Turin and imported his chocolate from there and neighboring areas. I also recently did another post as a tribute to this fantastic art... seems to be a lot of fans out there...
GL,
Gary
Posted by: Gary | May 25, 2011 at 12:37 PM