Milano/Modica (gro) Chocolate from southeastern Sicily triumphs at the World Expo in Milan. The delicacy from Modica impressively hangs its competition from Turin and Perugia. This shows a final interim balance sheet. With trade deals over 270,000 euros, the Modicani so far, almost half of the contracts agreed at the fair. The competition from Perugia sold chocolate for 170,000, the Turin chocolate makers for 140,000 euros. Until the end of the fair, which opened on May 1 and closes on October 31 will be added quite a few deals. The theme of the fair is world food, the planet Earth as the basis of life.
“Energy for Life”
“Feeding the planet, energy for life” is the official motto of Expo 2015 in Milan. This includes, of course, the chocolate. Yes, there is a dedicated “chocolate cluster” at the Expo. The largest chocolate retailers with their own production facilities are global corporations such as Kraft Foods, founded in Chicago in 1903 (including Mars/Suchard/Milka and Toblerone), or the British-Dutch Unilever, furthermore Swiss specialists such as Lindt (and Sprüngli), Frey or Camille Boche. The last-named (and probably the last, independent, larger) Swiss chocolate family business has not by chance chosen “Ragusa” for one of its main lines.
Tried and true taste sensations.
Be that as it may, the sustainable, worldwide success of chocolate is apparently due above all to numerous small producers who, with imagination, culinary dedication and daring creativity, continually produce new delicacies without abandoning tried-and-tested taste sensations. The chocolate makers of Modica are among them. Giuseppe Scala, commissioner of Expo Milan, has vividly confirmed it these days.
Nearly two dozen chocolate producers.
The success of “Modican” chocolate was a “record with promise.” It had been prophesied by Ignazio Abbate, the mayor of Modica (right, with microphone) already a few months ago in a TV interview (in “Ditelo Rgs”). He was absolutely convinced, Mayor Abbate said, that the very special quality of Modica chocolate would leave “deep traces” at the World Exhibition. Abbate represented at that moment almost two dozen chocolate producers from Modica and the surrounding area.
Even combined with beef.
Iganzio Abbate is convinced that, in addition to entrepreneurial diligence, it is above all the creativity of Modican chocolatiers that ensures the delicacies from southeastern Sicily the sustainable, indeed increasing, global demand. By the way, nowhere else except in Modica is the finest chocolate for a very special specialty also processed with spicy beef! Praised is also the quality of nougat from Modica, where with the “Antica Dolceria Bonajuto” one of the most elite pastry stores in Italy has its business (opposite the church of San Pietro, which can only be revealed with a heavy heart, on Corso Umberto).
Baroque town with excellent gastronomy.
Modica is one of the beautiful baroque towns in southeastern Sicily (in the Val di Noto), a large part of which is protected as a World Heritage Site by Unesco . A particularly impressive example is the church of San Giorgio in the upper town of Modica. No wonder that the lively seaside suburb of Marina di Modica with its magnificent beaches enjoys increasing popularity almost all year round. Discussing and processing a city tour of Modica is best done in the “Osteria dei Sapori Perduti” (Corso Umberto).
Vacation homes and a new airport for the southeast.
In the area around Modica and Ragusa (the baroque provincial capital of Ragusa is only 15 kilometers away) the supply of vacation homes and vacation villas has increased enormously in recent years. This is probably also due to the fact that a new airport has been available for three years in nearby Comiso, which connects the southeast of Sicily, with its large, beautiful beaches, hospitable structure and rich culture, inexpensively with the center of the continent and the north of Europe.