Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin
Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Turin audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~30 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~30 min
- Turin Turin guide
About Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin
Turin's most beautiful historic café (1858) under the Piazza Castello arcades, birthplace of bicerin, gianduia chocolate, and the Piedmontese confectionery tradition.
Turin is arguably the chocolate capital of Europe, a claim backed by three hundred years of history. When Spanish conquistadors brought cocoa to Europe in the sixteenth century, it arrived first as a drink, and the Italian courts were among the earliest adopters. The Savoy court in Turin became particularly enthusiastic consumers, and by the eighteenth century Turin was producing the finest chocolate in Europe. Two developments are specifically Turinese: the bicerin (from the Piedmontese word for "small glass"), a layered drink of espresso, chocolate, and cream served in a small glass that has been Turin's signature café drink since the early nineteenth century; and gianduia, the hazelnut-chocolate mixture invented in Turin in the early nineteenth century when the Napoleonic blockade cut off cocoa supplies and local chocolatiers mixed ground Piedmontese hazelnuts into their chocolate, creating an entirely new confection. The Gianduiotto, a small boat-shaped gianduia chocolate wrapped in gold foil, is one of Italy's most famous regional sweets. Caffè Baratti & Milano, founded in 1858 under the arcades of Piazza Castello, is the most beautiful surviving example of a Victorian-era Turinese café-confectioner, with its original frescoed ceilings, mahogany counters, and Art Nouveau fittings.
Did you know? Nutella, the world's most popular spread, consumed at a rate of 365,000 tonnes per year, is essentially an industrial version of gianduia, invented in Piedmont just south of Turin.
How long should you spend at Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin?
Plan about ~30 min at Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin worth visiting?
Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin is one of the 22 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Turin, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Turin
Hear the story of Caffè Baratti & Milano: Chocolate Turin
Preview the Turin tour free in the Gingerguide app.