Venchi chocolates
Chocolates have long been associated with love and romance. And on Valentine’s Day, they’re even a more popular expression of affection than flowers.
Italian chocolates are a perennial favorite because they tend to be made with high-quality ingredients. As a result, Italy ranks among the top four chocolate-producing countries in the world.
The creative packaging and style of a gift of Italian chocolates is likely to impress its recipient, too, even before they taste and smell the scent of the mouth-watering sweets inside.
Here are some the best Italian chocolates for Valentine’s Day that are bound to warm the heart and please the palate of any chocoholic. Some of these gifts are offered directly by prestigious Italian chocolatiers; others are sourced by popular gourmet food importers:
Baratti & Milano Chocolates
Baratti & Milano Chocolates
The founders of this 160-year-old company opened a confectionary in Turin (the capital city of Piedmont). And within a short time, the two young entrepreneurs established themselves as chocolate makers to the Royal family of Savoy.
Wine writer Ian D’Agata has called Baratti & Milano the “Grand Cru of Chocolate” because they are made with such high-quality ingredients and processes. The company is credited with perfecting the famous Cremini and Gianduiotti chocolates.
The Valentine’s Day collection is elegantly packaged, some in vintage tins, and come tied with romantic hand-tied pink and red ribbons.
Venchi Chocolates
Venchi Chocolates
Silvano Venchi produced the first Nougatine in 1878, Since that time, the company has grown into a global powerhouse with boutiques around the world, including the U.S.
Venchi chocolates are made in the Piedmont region of Italy, the country’s leading producer of confectionary. The company prides itself on sourcing the best possible cocoa, and all of the recipes rely on 100% natural, gluten free ingredients made without palm oil.
For Valentine’s Day, Venchi features a number of different assortments, with beautiful packaging, in addition to bulk packages of red foil wrapped milk or dark chocolate hearts.
Guido Gobino Chocolates
Guido Gobino Chocolates
These sustainable artisanal chocolates have been produced in Turin since 1964. Made with carefully selected raw ingredients, the processing of cocoa (from bean to bar) is managed entirely in-house.
Distributed in over 24 countries, the award-winning company produces chocolate in many artistic forms—including pralines, dragees, cremini, ganaches, bars, creams and powders. The PGI Piedmont hazelnuts used in the chocolates are selected from small farms in the Langhe hills. In collaboration with Latterie inAlpi, the milk comes exclusively from farms in Turin, Asti Nad Cuneo.
Guido Gobino’s Valentine’s Day collection celebrates the loving relationship with our earth and origins. Lovers can choose from assortments that include new cuoricini hearts to a praline box with cuoricini, stuffed cialdine (enriched with grains), and Tourinot and Cremini together with dragèe. The Valentine’s Day offerings will be live on the site on January 18th, 2023.
Ferrero Rocher Chocolates
Ferrero Rocher Chocolates
With origins in Alba (Piedmont), the Ferrero Group has more than 35 brands sold in more than 170 countries. The company’s signature chocolates, Ferrero Rocher, were invented by Michele Ferrero.
These ball-shaped delicacies are made with whole hazelnuts dipped in velvety chocolate, encased in a thin wafer shell with hazelnut chocolate, and then coated with milk chocolate and hazelnut pieces. Each one is wrapped in elegant gold foil.
The company offers a variety of tins and heart-shaped packaging for Valentine’s Day.
Eataly Cena di Valentino Box
Cena di Valentino Box
Why limit the gift to chocolates? Eataly, the Italian superstore of high-quality imported products, has curated a special Valentine’s Day dinner box, that includes chocolate.
The gift box has everything needed for a hassle-free meal for two including trofi, pesto and high quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for Ligurian Pasta al Pesto; breadsticks, olives and pate for an appetizer; and a Limited Edition Dolce & Gabbana box of Chocolate Baci by Perugina for dessert. Also inside: Pistachio spread, chocolate covered cantucci almond cookies, and Himalayan salt with a grinder.
In celebration of Perugina’s 100th anniversary, the new Baci praline has a soft heart of gianduja, hazelnut, and raspberry crystals, emblazoned with a ruby red coating.
iGourmet Italian Valentine Sweets Box
Valentine’s Day Sweet Box
This tantalizing assortment of romantic sweets includes chocolates and more. Baci di Dama (lady’s kisses) are a Piedmontese specialty of hazelnut cookies encasing a hazelnut-chocolate filling. The Vergani chocolate pralines are filled with pistachio cream, handcrafted in Cremona (Lombardy) since 1881.
Also inside are other delectables sourced from Italy, including Sicilian jam, Isola Froletti cookies, Biscotti al Burro Salato (Piedmont butter cookies), and Amaretti di Saronno soft, chewy almond cookies made by Lazzaroni since 1718.