PERUGIA What to see & do - Eurochocolate Perugia 2007: Welcome to the Chocolate Era!

Eurochocolate is preparing to inaugurate its fourteenth edition with ChocolAge, the Chocolate Era, that will take place from the 13th to the 21st October 2007 in Perugia. (www.eurochocolate.com).

The Food of Gods becomes the present protagonist of human existence, influencing costumes and practices of common people and their daily life style. Though it means, for example communicating through a chocolate bar instead of a mobile phone, as it appears on the Italian communication campaign named: “Cioccolato senti quento è buono ;-)” - “Feel how good it is ;-)”.

The images of the campaign actually portray many ordinary people using a chocolate bar as a cellphone for chatting, texting, taking pictures, listening to the music…

Chocolate succeeds in catching modern technology in a funny and tempting trap. It turns in sweet batteries – The Chocopower – that bucks your day up and belongs to wellness and health after the entry of Chocopirin-A, already rebaptized “Chocolate Aspirin”. In Eurochocolate, then, insatiable lovers of chocolate, adults and children, will experience the Chocolate Era plunging in a present and futuristic dimension of over glowing delicacy.

Eurochocolate means also going through the culture of a fascinating town like Perugia, plenty of history, art and traditions that in nine days time becomes a huge chocolaterie en plein air to discover, also thanks to the successful Chococard (5,00 €) offering sweet advantages for a funny experience in the name of leisure and goodness of chocolate. Advantages that will be immediately tangible among the stands of the Chocolate Show and those of the Rocca Pralina, two suggestive areas with more then 150 chocolate brands coming from each angle of the world.

Eurochocolate is also the instrument for promoting protection of important values as solidarity, biodiversity, traceability and sustainability of the production process of cocoa, aiming to guarantee a sustainable future based on the decrease of the differences between developed and developing countries.

With that mission, Eurochocolate World was born three years ago: a really appreciated vessel that promotes joint activities sponsored by international organization as ICCO (International Cocoa Organization) and Fairtrade TransFair Italia, one of the main organization for the certification of fair-trade products. Since then, Eurochocolate World confirms the success of the event in Perugia on this field as well, through concrete actions for economy development and awareness campaigns, beginning with the lessons of Equoscuola focused on fair-trade chocolate culture and addressed to the youngest generations.

Eurochocolate World hosts the second edition of the C8 (Thursday 18th October), the International Summit of the first eight countries world producers of Cocoa, that following the debate of last year on quality in cocoa production, will meet again in order to deal with the theme of Sustainability in the cocoa production process.

Another important vessel will be Equochocolate, the area dedicated to chocolate produced pursuing fair trade criteria, realized in collaboration with Fairtrade TransFair Italia.

Some details of the programme 2007

In order to boost the delicacy of more then 6000 products in the Chocolate Show, many events, entertainments and shows will be organized as every years, in collaboration with the most famous and prestigious brands of national and international confectionary industry that will offer to the visitors thousand of free chocolates of the most original flavours and shapes.

Sunday 14th October of course will be the time of the Chocolate Sculptures, symbol happening that characterizes each edition of the sweet event: five chocolate bocks of 11 quintals each will be masterfully carved by as many artists while the sweet flakes will reach the mouths of the gluttonous audience.

Monday 15th October, Chocolate Exchange comes back, a real International Chocolate Stock Exchange, sponsored by ICE (the Italian Institute for International Commerce) and the Foreign Chamber of Commerce of Perugia. A business to business meeting place where Italian small and medium companies meet the buyers of the European and Extra European organized distribution who are strongly interested in first rate handcrafted and industrial chocolate made in Italy.

After the great demand of the previous editions ChocoFarm returns, a SPA wholly dedicated to body treatments with chocolate and cocoa. It will take place in the very modern Beauty Palace of Perugia, where the customers will be welcome by a fascinating atmosphere and high skilled staff.

Always loved by children, Eurochocolate dedicates to the youngest funs, for the second year in a row, the ChocoFamily Area, a space especially conceived for kids under twelve, where amusement and sweetness are thought for their needs. Here young gluttonous will learn about chocolate through workshops and games.

The traditional collaboration with the Università dei Sapori di Perugia, presents new educational activities addressed to the schools, to the chocolate lovers and to the professionals who want to experience new cooking practices and learn some more about the “Food of Gods”.

Another cultural appointment is Cioccolata con l’Autore - Chocolate with the Author: when the goodness of hot chocolate meets unforgettable pages of literature narrate by famous contemporary writers.

While in order to enjoy the sweet nights of Eurochocolate there will be the Chocolate Movida in the trendy clubs in the capital of Umbria.