The Smell of Chocolate Prevails Throughout

My normally quiet town of Perugia has once again been inundated with tourists from Italy and beyond for the annual Eurochocolate festival. The usually pristine Corso Vannucci, which runs through the center of Perugia, fills up with big white tents, where Italian and European chocolate vendors set up their stalls each morning.

On one hand, this is a good thing.  I mean hey, it’s a chocolate festival, and who doesn’t like the idea of that?  It lasts a week and a few of the stands offer tiny cups of the thickest hot chocolate – sometimes spiced – for around a Euro.  As the season changes to fall, I can’t think of a better way to stay warm.

On the other hand, I don’t enjoy crowds of meandering tourists.  Since I live in the center of town, all of my practical shopping takes place in the center as well.  During Eurochocolate, this means that a grocery shopping trip is a slow, frustrating swim through people who ironically walk straight into you as soon as they see, with eye contact, that you’re in each other’s paths.  It’s one thing for a street to be bustling and full of local people, it’s another thing when it’s full of only tourists.  Add that to the music blaring from speakers throughout the Corso, just for the festival, and it’s not such a relaxing walk.  Of course, since none of the chocolate tourists actually live here, as soon as I get into the supermarket it’s business as usual (though the daily chaos of my small supermarket is another story).

Yet it’s actually worth it to walk outside, even during this chaos.  I can’t complain about the lingering scent of chocolate in the air, nor can I complain about that delicious hot chocolate.  The festival was also a reason for me to make a new friend – an American living in Florence who came down just to see what Eurochocolate was all about.  Not only that, at Saturday night’s milonga, I shared some beautiful tangos with a man visiting from Cesena, up north.  He came just for the festival.  And I got to dance with him.

Did I buy any chocolate at the festival?  Well, no.  While there are plenty of tastings and the chocolate isn’t TOO pricey (but still…), I feel like the festival is quite full of Nestle (who now owns Perugina), Milka and Lindt – brands I can find just about anywhere.  There are plenty of other vendors from Italy and the rest of Europe, but the chaos of visitors is again what deters me.  So I continue to buy my usual bar of dark chocolate in the local supermarket for half the price.

Does your city hold any events that attract a lot of visitors?

*This post was written for AffordableCallingCards.net, the expat community site where you can also buy calling cards to Italy. You can click here to read more posts about expat life written by myself and other bloggers.