Modica, the president of the Ragusa Court on a visit to the chocolate museum

The president of the Court of Ragusa, Francesco Paolo Pitarresi, accompanied by distinguished guests, visited the Chocolate Museum of Modica.

He was welcomed by the director of the Consortium, Nino Scivoletto, who guided the tour illustrating the history of Chocolate of Modica starting from the Italy Room, where 27 panels are displayed with reproductions of documents from the Grimaldi family archive. This is the result of an in-depth research conducted by the team coordinated by Grazia Dormiente at the Modica section of the State Archive of Ragusa.

During the itinerary, appreciation was expressed for the strong link between the product and the Modica territory, an element that proved decisive for the recognition of Chocolate of Modica as the first, and to this day the only, European chocolate with PGI certification.

Scivoletto then explained the low-temperature processing, a technique that gives the specialty its characteristic granularity and allows for the preservation of the health properties of cocoa; cocoa and sugar are the only ingredients used. The director also delved into the topics of the Digital Passport, the fight against counterfeiting, and the economic and tourism impacts generated by Chocolate of Modica.

Thanks to the actions of the Protection Consortium, in the last five years production has doubled, rising from 170 to 348 tons of Chocolate of Modica PGI: an excellence that today represents one of the main tourist attractions of the city and has favored a marked increase in accommodation facilities.

The visit concluded with a tasting of Chocolate of Modica PGI in the following variants: dark without flavors, with salt, with Sicilian citrus, with vanilla, and with cinnamon.

A copy of the book “Modica The History of Its Chocolate” by G. Dormiente and G. Leone was presented to President Pitarresi. The magistrate also signed an institutional chocolate bar intended for the collection of special wrappers and left a significant message in the visitor's book.

Present at the meeting were the commander in S.V. of the Carabinieri Company of Modica, Captain Rosolino D’Amico, and Lieutenant Giovanni Grillone, commander of the Carabinieri Station of Modica.