A Day In Perugia: Attending the 2015 Eurochocolate Festival
Every year for the last 22 years, the beautiful and historic hilltop town of Perugia transforms into a chocolate lover’s paradise for its annual Eurochocolate Festival, the largest chocolate festival in Europe. I couldn’t resist making a trip there myself (although I am sure my dentist would be horrified)!
Perugia
Perugia is the capital of the Italian region of Umbria, and is known for its Etruscan roots, incredible hilltop views, historic architecture, and its world famous Eurochocolate Festival.
The views overlooking Umbria are phenomenal
Eurochocolate Festival
The Eurochocolate festival is a tradition started in 1993 by a man named Eugenio Guarducci, who, after visiting Oktoberfest in Germany realized that he wanted to create the same fun atmosphere and celebratory festivities in his own town, Perugia, featuring chocolate as opposed to beer.
For 10 days, the town of Perugia transforms into a chocolate festival worthy of Willy Wonka, with hundreds of tents lining the streets displaying chocolate goods and handing out samples.
The festival boasts nearly 1 million visitors and features chocolate in every form-from chocolate sculptures, drinks, products, and even music. The list of chocolate-related things to see and do seems endless!
ChocoCards
You can purchase a ChocoCard which comes with a map of the festival as well as vouchers for free chocolate (my favorite kind). While there are many areas around the festival to sample chocolate, I loved having the ChocoCard to lead me directly to the free stuff, plus it gave me access to discounts throughout the festival.
My ChocoCard with my free chocolate Euro coin
Mustachoc
Every year, the festival is centered around a theme, and this year’s was “Mustachoc,” with chocolate mustaches, gifts, and a gigantic 6,600 pound chocolate mustache taking center stage. Everywhere you looked, there was a chocolate mustache to behold, and the yearly “gadget” or free gift with ChocoCard was a chocolate mustache, which made an excellent photo prop.
I couldn’t resist grabbing a picture with my chocolate ‘stache!
After a day spent consuming entirely too much chocolate, I was ready to return home to Florence and ignore sugar for the next few days. All in all, my day spent at Eurochocolate was a success, and I would definitely recommend making a trip before it ends on the 25th of October. If you love chocolate, it is not to be missed!
Great shot of Umbria. I find the choc ‘moustache’ a great, creative idea.