{"id":11657,"date":"2015-12-17T07:30:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T06:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=11657"},"modified":"2016-03-09T08:38:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T07:38:31","slug":"hot-chocolate-in-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/hot-chocolate-in-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Chocolate in Florence: History & Where to Drink it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that hot chocolate<\/strong> is a Florentine tradition? From its first appearance at the Medici court in the 16th<\/sup> century, the city\u2019s nobles went crazy for the bitter drink, which was served instead of wine or water at meals in Palazzo Pitti. It experienced a second moment of importance in the 19th<\/sup> century, when some of the city\u2019s now-historic bars served it to travelers, aristocrats and intelligentsia. I recently learned about Hot Chocolate in Florence<\/strong> on a thematic tour of the city with Francesca from the cultural association Tre Passi Per Firenze<\/strong><\/a>, organized by Yelp Firenze, and I\u2019ve asked her to tell us more about it. The article below is composed thanks to her research, with my words.<\/p>\n

\"Piazza
Piazza Pitti – inside, the Medici & their friends drank hot chocolate!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

History of chocolate in Florence: where and whom<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Christopher Columbus<\/strong> may have sailed the ocean blue in 1492 but it took him until his fourth expedition, in 1502, to discover chocolate. The nice people of the island of Guanaja in Honduras sent some home with him, having also served it to him as a drink, which he found disgusting. Cort\u00e9s<\/strong> did a better job of diffusing the love for chocolate, having found it in Mexico in 1519 and imported it to Spain in 1528. It took half a century until it became regularly available in Europe \u2013 Italy was the second country to adopt it.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgift from the gods\u201d was prepared as a drink<\/strong> \u2013 the possibility to make chocolate harden into a bar came only later \u2013 following the methods brought back via Cort\u00e9s. The seeds of the cacao were ground into a powder and combined with boiled water to make a bitter drink. Early reports say it was healthy and provided much energy. Its success in European cities, including Florence, was that it provided an alternative to wine and beer when the water couldn\u2019t be drunk unless boiled. It wasn\u2019t entirely to the taste of Italians until combined with cane sugar: Girolamo Benzoni, an important merchant, said in the middle of the 16th<\/sup> century that it wasn\u2019t fit for men but for pigs. He changed his mind when he tasted the sugared version.<\/p>\n

\"A
A 17th century Mexican hot chocolate cup made of coconuts with silver detailing, Pitti Palace Museo degli Argenti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Members of the Medici court<\/strong> became quite fond of the drink; it is believed that the drinks being brought to banqueters in a print of 1627 by Stefano della Bella for Giovan Carlo de\u2019 Medici are cups of hot chocolate. We also know that there was a specific cupboard called the armadino degli odori<\/em> in the Pitti Palace where Giovan Carlo kept his favourite sweets: an inventory reveals that it contained 43 boxes of chocolate, as well as cedar jellies, perfumed oils and rare spices.<\/p>\n

\"Stefano
Stefano della Bella, Banquet in Palazzo Pitti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cosimo III continued sponsoring hot chocolate, and his court\u2019s chief botanist, Francesco Redi<\/strong>, developed for him a most delicious jasmine-flavoured hot chocolate. The good man, whose statue is one of those you can find decorating the Piazzale degli Uffizi, kept this recipe secret until his death, when it was found in a document. This court also enjoyed other flavoured cocoa powders with lemon, musk and more.<\/p>\n

\"Francesco
Francesco Redi had a secret hot chocolate recipe!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The subsequently ruling Lorena family carried on the chocolate-loving tradition; Pietro Leopoldo had Zonobi del Rosso design the Kaffeehaus in the Boboli Gardens (1774-85) as a useful place to have a hot-chocolate break with visiting European aristocrats.<\/p>\n

\"Kaffeehaus<\/a>
Kaffeehaus in Boboli Gardens – Photo by Flickr User Albert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A craze in the Novecento<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> centuries, hot chocolate had become a morning ritual for many nobles; by the 20th<\/sup> century, it slowly infiltrated the culture of those who could afford to frequent the city\u2019s many caf\u00e9s. Florence was booming, and many important caf\u00e9s that opened in this period are still serving hot chocolate today.<\/p>\n

\"This
This building replaces an earlier one where Caff\u00e8 Doney was located<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amongst those now lost is one on via Tornabuoni, right next to Palazzo Strozzi, called Gran Caff\u00e8 Doney<\/strong>. The tea house was much favoured by aristocrats and by the English, whose consulate was not far away. In 1937, Mussolini met with Violet Trefusis (Keppel) here, an important expat; the encounter is commemorated in the movie Tea with Mussolini in a re-created version of the place that closed in 1986.<\/p>\n

Another favourite Florentine bar for hot chocolate was Il Bottegone in Piazza Duomo<\/strong> (corner of via Martelli), which stayed open late to serve the aristocrats coming home from the nearby theatres. Sadly, it changed hands and functions in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Where to drink hot chocolate in Florence today<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The tradition of drinking hot chocolate in Florence continues today, especially in wintertime \u2013 so skip the cappuccino and order the family friendly hot chocolate for a caloric way to warm up. Traditionally in Florence it\u2019s thick and bitter, though each bar has its own style. We list some of the historic places to drink it as well as a few new additions.<\/p>\n

\"Caff\u00e8
Caff\u00e8 Rivoire in Piazza della Signoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caff\u00e8 Rivoire<\/strong> opened in Piazza della Signoria in 1872, when Florence was capital of Italy, and they made an artisan hot chocolate based on a secret recipe. Many important politicians and nobles drank it here, and it\u2019s still available now!<\/p>\n

The bars in Piazza della Repubblica all date from the Poggi restoration of this piazza; the large Caff\u00e8<\/strong> Gilli<\/strong> was and still is one of the stops on 20th<\/sup>-century aristocrats\u2019 checklists when searching for a hot chocolate fix.<\/p>\n

Caff\u00e8 Giacosa<\/strong> was founded in 1815 as pasticceria, tea house, restaurant and chocolate factory; its via della Spada location that opened in 1927 was the favourite of many nobles, including a certain hard-working thirsty count Negroni, for whom the rather strong Florentine drink was invented right there. For something less alcoholic, the place still serves up hot chocolate, having been purchased and restored by Roberto Cavalli a few years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot chocolate at Chiaroscuro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of much more recent date, but worth a mention, is Vestri<\/strong> chocolatier, a tiny store on Borgo degli Albizi (Santa Croce) that serves many different flavours of chocolate ice cream in the summer, and superb hot chocolate in the winter.<\/p>\n

While not from Florence, Venchi<\/strong> at the Loggia del Porcellino also specializes in hot chocolate as well as shots of liquid giandiuia.<\/p>\n

Chiaroscuro<\/strong> on via del Corso also has an extensive menu of hot chocolate flavours.<\/p>\n

\"Venchi's
Venchi’s Florence shop – the original is in Torino and was established in the late 19th century<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tre Passi Per Firenze<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Three girlfriends and licensed guides are the minds behind the cultural association Tre Passi Per Firenze<\/a>. Besides providing private tour services in Florence in Italian or English, they propose a weekly calendar of \u201ctour sharing\u201d, thematic low-cost opportunities to explore the city (min 6 participants). Like the tour I took about chocolate in Florence, these are geared at residents, providing unusual approaches that go beyond the usual tourist itineraries. They offer a tour along the banks of the Arno, themes of Romantic Florence and Florence in the movies, as well as occasional visits to the Vasari Corridor.<\/p>\n

Italy Roundtable<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s December and the Italy Blogging Roundtable is writing about the theme sweet<\/strong>! Prepare to pay the dentist extra as you read the posts from my colleagues.<\/p>\n