The love story behind Baci Perugina began in Perugia, Italy during 1922 ‘when Luisa Spagnoli, a young chocolate maker, created a special bonbon for her beloved’. According to the manufacturer, the chocolate was originally called cazzotto (Italian for ‘punch’) because its shape evokes a fist but later renamed bacio because it was’ exquisite and sweet as a kiss’.
With that story and each chocolate accompanied a love note, Baci Perugina brands itself as being the way to ‘say I love you the Italian way’.
The wrapping depicts ‘a starry sky lit up by the promise and invitation of bacio, the Italian word for ‘kiss”.
Each chocolate consisted of ‘luscious milk chocolate, whipped and blended with freshly chopped hazelnuts’, topped with ‘one whole hazelnut, sumptuous and full of flavour’ and coated in ‘dark bittersweet chocolate, rich and velvety smooth’.
Each piece smells of a rich dark chocolate, with the coating giving a clean crispness and prominent bittersweet notes into the body before reaching the softer milk chocolate centre that melts to balance the bitterness with sweet, creamy notes. The whole hazelnut elevates the luxe quality of the chocolate and together with the chopped hazelnuts bring a delectable crunch that allows the moreish nutty flavour to persist throughout the bite.
Like the original chocolate in 1922 that was wrapped in a billet-doux, the chocolates are accompanied a love note consisting the words of philosophers, classical authors, contemporary artists and proverbs. According to the manufacturer, these love notes are part of what has made the chocolates unique and inimitable since the 1930s – they are ‘secret’ of Baci Perugina being ‘that they express words cannot say’.
This Baci Perugina contained 114 g or 8 pieces. It was produced in Italy and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2018.