Presentation of the new Rovinj souvenir Rovinj gianduja – Gianduja rovignese

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05.12.2022

The new project "Rovinj gianduja - Gianduia rovignese" signed by Atelier Ecostyle from Rijeka, realized with the support of the City of Rovinj-Rovigno and the Tourist Board of the city of Rovinj-Rovigno, was presented in the city palace.

The author of the project, Marina Prijatelj from Atelier Ecostyle, designed a collection of chocolate products inspired by an original recipe from the 19th century called Antonio Bazzarini, Rovinjska gianduja - Gianduia rovignese. The treats include chocolates in different sizes and weights, almond-shaped chocolates with pralines and chocolate spread in ecological craft boxes of various sizes in the shape of a book to combine Bazzarini's two great loves: lexicography and chocolate.

The author Marina Prijatelj got the idea for the project while researching traditional chocolate recipes on the website of one of the leading chocolate distributors, Cacao Berry. She came across an extraordinary discovery - Gianduja, one of the leading chocolate classics, which has become famous all over the world in various forms (chocolate, pralines, spreads), originally comes from Rovinj. Italian authors Clara and Gigi Padovani are responsible for this discovery, whose research on the history of gianduja was published in the book Gianduiotto Mania in 2007, where they stated that its real original author was Antonio Bazzarini from Rovinj.

Antonio Bazzarini (Rovinj, 1782 – Turin, 1850) was not a confectioner and did not deal with chocolate. He was a recognized philologist and linguist who briefly entered the world of chocolate and changed it forever. During Napoleon's reign, when the import of cocoa from South America became almost impossible, young Antonio Bazzarini, experimenting with cocoa and food from the Rovinj area where almonds were abundant, discovered a substitute for chocolate. He took his discovery to Italy, and in 1813 he patented it and printed a brochure with a very significant title: National Strategy for Chocolate Substitution (Piano di substitution al cioccolato ed al caffè), in which he wrote down the recipe "...a handful of well-roasted almonds, a few beans of lupine almost burnt on the stove, wheat and sugar. Grind well using a pestle and mortar...". A short footnote saying: "...if you wish, you can add a third of cocoa to the dough..." is significant and determines the point of this story: it is the first known written recipe where cocoa is mixed with nuts and the first ever published substitute for chocolate, and as such is the original gianduja chocolate embryo.

The visual identity of the entire project signed by Boris Ljubičić is based on the image and work of Antonio Bazzarini, where the authentic letterhead of his publishing house from 1835 and a portrait from his most famous work, the Italian dictionary, were used for the logo. The treat is thus decorated with a distinctive design with a historical context, and its portrait and typography are elementary details of a personalized approach to the entire project, unique to Croatia.

The development of this exclusive souvenir is aligned with the guidelines of the Strategic Tourism Development Plan for the city of Rovinj-Rovigno until 2030, which emphasizes the promotion of indigenous and traditional products of the destination and represents a qualitative step forward with something unique that can be recognized all over the world.