The Art of Chocolate at Agliana

Since 1974, Roberto Catinari’s small artisan company has been making top quality chocolate at Agliana, and it has become famous all over Italy. The personal story of this mâitre chocolatier is really fascinating as is his production of sweets, craved and longed for by both enthusiasts and connoisseurs. He always loved chocolate, even as a child when he was deeply influenced by the Allied troops who, arriving in Italy at the end of the war, used to throw out chocolate bars from their jeeps to the people waiting along the road.

From that moment on, he spent his life perfecting the originality of its production and researching in the craftsman’s skill in making every single piece of chocolate. As a kid, he worked in Switzerland for a few years where he became a Master Chocolatier, and where he brought some interesting innovations into the field. Later on, he returned to Italy, together with his wife, opening his own company that still bears his name today.

With about ten employees, the company constantly aims at production innovation as well as and at the same time as respecting its own traditions. The Master Chocolatier is one of the few left in Italy who makes homemade liqueur-filled chocolates “in a suger crust”, thus paying homage to the complex and costly procedure needed to guarantee its irrefutable quality. This artisan workshop stands out for its vast assortment of products, true pieces of art which delight both your palate and your sight, examples of which are sculptures of work tools or chocolate animals of an infinite number of shapes and sizes.

Roberto Catinari was the pioneer of the Tuscan Chocolate Valley, which stretches from Prato to Pisa and which is characterized by the production of chocolate of the very highest quality, created by world-famous masters of this field.