With an average per capita consumption of 12.3 kilograms, the Swiss are the world’s largest chocolate consumers. It could not be otherwise, if we consider that the “flagship” of the national confectionery industry, with a production of around 180,000 tons a year, is chocolate. Chocolate is not only a fundamental piece of Swiss tradition, but has always been considered, in the Ticino also, one of the most well-known symbols of Swissness in the world.

For an agency like Lugano’s Isicom SA, which for years has been a leader of vastly popular food and wine events like the “Ristora” and “Sapori & Saperi” salons, it was almost an obligation to turn the Ticino into the chocolate hub for Northern Europe. Faithful to a company philosophy that has quality as the main pillar of its activity, Isicom SA has entered into an agreement with Eurochocolate, the most famous chocolate event in the world, which will make it possible to organize in Lugano – from 26 through 29 March 2009 – a similarly important and sweet-tasting event called Eurochocolate Swiss – More Chocolate.

The event was presented to the press today at the Lugano Casino, by Isicom’s Alberto Rota Lorenzo Quadri, Lugano Town Council member and head of the tourism department, and Eugenio Guarducci, founder and president of Eurochocolate, an event born in Perugia in 1994 and which today counts over 900,000 visitors. Sponsoring the event are the City of Lugano, Lugano Turismo, and GastroTicino, the federation of restaurant and hotel owners, who are strongly convinced and motivated in their support of Eurochocolate Swiss.

The agreement with Eurochocolate makes it possible to make use of the know-how of an event that has been taking place with great success for 14 years. “Of course, considering the fact that Switzerland is the chocolate country,” explained Lorenzo Quadri, “we couldn’t think of doing a copy-and-paste in Lugano of Perugia’s event. For the town it was important that any Ticinese and Swiss producers who wanted to participate, could do so without preclusions.” And the objective of this important event is precisely that of working with the local actors, at the same time maintaining the event’s international vocation.

Thanks to Eurochocolate, what will arrive in Lugano at the end of March “will be a functioning, serious, well-tested event of great appeal.” An event that will bring to Lugano “visitors and related industries, and will also bring our city national and international visibility.” What is more, during a period of the year that is not usually one of the “liveliest” as far as events are concerned. “So I am very satisfied that this great chocolate event can come to Lugano. And that it can come not just for one time only,” concluded Quadri, “but with the aim of becoming a yearly appointment. There are all the makings for this to happen.”

Alberto Rota took up the concept, explaining the reasons that led him to cooperate with Eurochocolate and organize Eurochocolate Swiss. “The goal we have set for ourselves is that of promoting the territory, calling the attention of the media and the public that the Perugian event has shown it knows how to catalyze, and which makes it an excellent territorial promotion and marketing tool. Switzerland is considered, in the collective imagination, the true home of chocolate, but strangely enough, up to today, there had never been a significant event that had the ambition of emphasizing this extraordinary fame.”A fame that is also due to the great chocolatiers of the Ticino, and of Blenio in particular, who have exported the chocolate-making art at the international level, and sown the seeds of that Cima Norma that became one of the country’s most important factories. It is a Ticinese chocolate-making tradition that still continues today, thanks to the commitment of important companies that will be invited to play a starring role at Eurochocolate Swiss.

In this sense, Eurochocolate Swiss will make it possible to give added value to the dynamism of the local partners (institutions, restaurants, hotels, merchants, etc.), “whose involvement,” stressed Rota, “remains essential for the success of the event.” Proposing Eurochocolate Swiss as a regular appointment in Lugano will also enable the city – and as a result the entire Canton – to attract the attention of the general public, “associating itself with a strong new theme that is easily identifiable with our territory. A different, innovative, and strategic offering that will enable all the institutions, associations, and partners involved to increase media visibility in Switzerland, but mainly abroad, and to benefit, for the long-term, from the event’s various related activities.”

Eurochocolate’s founder and president, Eugenio Guarducci, also, did not hide his satisfaction at succeeding in bringing this major event to the Swiss Confederation. “Bringing Eurochocolate to Switzerland,” he explained, “is a stimulating commitment for us. The aim is to make it into a regular yearly appointment for the pre-Easter period. The agreement with Isicom SA and the important support of the other partners constitute an initial step, starting from which we will begin to work concretely on the project. The choice of Lugano is very simple to explain: Italian Switzerland is a center of gravity among the most important chocolate producing centres in Switzerland, and at the same time is home to productions of great quality. To all this we must add the closeness to a territory such as Lombardy, where our event is very well known and from which we expect a large number of visitors.”

The event will follow the well-consolidated format, with exhibits, educational workshops for adults, youngsters, and children, shows, and fun chocolaty activities. And the possibility, of course, to taste and buy loads of quality chocolate, in all shapes and tastes, alone or in traditional and unusual combinations.

To better promote the Lugano event, on the occasion of the 15th edition of Eurochocolate Perugia (18-26 October 2008) there will be a special area devoted to it where, among the other initiatives, the official “watch” gadget will be presented: a fun bracelet devoted to all those chocoholics who will want to stand out, by “wearing” excellent chocolate, and who... can’t wait to taste it.

Eurochocolate Swiss – More Chocolate is symbolized, as well as by the inevitable Swiss flag, by an image dear to all the big fans of Eurochocolate: the chocolaty print of a right hand created by Enric Rovira, which has been accompanying Eurochocolate for a number of years in all its appearances in Italy and abroad. 

With an addition: an extra finger. As if to say, in fact, more chocolate…

In short, you can’t get much more chocolaty than that…