I will be travelling to Italy for a holiday. i will be going to como then to sudtirol. In between I do have a trip to Zurich for some work but will have just one hour for some shopping. I was looking at bringing back some cheap but good chocolate back from the trip as gifts and I really have many people waiting back home for them! I heard that the coop choclates in switzerland are good and was wondering if I could find something similar back in italy or some swiss chocolate cheaply in italy. The idea behind not buying them in zurich is that i have a few stopovers after there and would really have to lug all the chocolate around.Any help will be much appreciated! Thanks
Not lugging them around in hot summer heat and winding up with melted choccies is wise.
Italian choccies can be pretty good too.
Swiss are very good, especially some of the smaller places, but I don't think they are always the absolute best. Have a try of the Italian ones before you fill your case with Swiss. See the big difference between milk chocolate and bitter.
Ritter Sport from Germany also make pretty decent product, especially if you like bar chocolate with things mixed in.
It is very easy to see if you have bough anything in Switzerland or Italy: products sold in Switzerland have labels in three languages (German, French, Italian), while Italian ones have a single language. However, it is not difficult to find Swiss chocolate in Italy (basically, at any supermarket), and there are also several Lindt shops in Italy.
Perugina chocolates (Italian) is now owned by Nestle (Swiss), I think, so you could buy those and have the best (well, maybe not the best, but good) of both.
OMG! Walk into any Conad City grocery store in major Italian cities and find the chocolate aisle for the experience of a lifetime. Shelves loaded with all kinds and brands of chocolate most of which I've not seen here in the US.
I like only deep dark chocolate and there's plenty of that on the shelves. And cheap too! So cheap and No chocolate tax like here in the US. And it's delicious! And it's sold in shapes from bar size to big chunks!
Yep, I have a lotta Fun in the Chocolate aisle!
Another option is to buy chocolates at the duty free shop in the airport departure area. They have a large selection at various price levels, usually offering Swiss, Belgian and Italian brands (but not Coop's). Prices will probably be a little higher than at stores, but tradeoff is that you don't have to carry it around or risk it melting.
There is so much great chocolate made in Italy in the province to the west of Milan that, while I understand the fixed idea of getting Swiss coop chocolates in Italy a bit odd. Get Italian Piedmontese chocolates at a Conad. Piedmont used to be owned by the House of Savoy, so there's a Swiss-French flavor to the things from there.
Recent trip to Eataly here, was amazed that 90%+ of the Italian chocolates on offer were from Turin or the surrounding area.
Walk into any Conad City grocery store in major Italian cities and find the chocolate aisle for the experience of a lifetime.
It sounds like what you find in most large French grocery stores, which has often been a source for the chocolate bars we bring back from France. Some of them are Swiss, some are Belgian, and some are French; many are store brand. All are better than pretty much anything you could buy in America, even from specialty chocolate shops. So I would follow this advice. And in my opinion, avoid the duty free shops at all costs.
If you do have an hour to shop in Zurich, go to a Co-op grocery store. They have most of the brands of Swiss chocolate there and at less cost than at most other shops.
I usually bring back Venchi chocolate for friends and family. Packaging choices range from reasonably priced individual bars to expensive elegant boxes, with many options in between. It is truly Italian chocolate and is not easily obtained in the States. (Only place I know that carries it is Eataly in NYC). Venchi has a store at MXP as well as Milano Centrale, and in other Italian cities.
The Coop recommendation is a good one - this is just an alternative if you want to take it up a notch.
Love Venchi chocolate! Try some and see what you think. After all, you are doing research to make your friends happy.
I always take home Neuhaus (Belgian) chocolates, they have stores in many cities but not sure about Italy. Edit: three locations in Italy, one in central Milano and one each at MXP and FCO.
I second the idea of Venchi chocolate. The sugar-free cubes (packed in red) are surprisingly good. They have also a shop at Firenze SMN station.
they make a passing excellent gelato too
Wow, thank you for all the excellent recommendations! It just seems to me that shopping in Zurich and then lugging them bars all around the country may not really be needed after all. Max,the only reason I was considering buying the co op swiss chocolates is that they are cheap and good quality, since there are so many people who are looking forward to them, I thought maybe a good idea to buy them without breaking the bank. Snadra, the idea of shopping at big supermarkets in Italy sounds good, I have one day free in Gallaratte before taking my flight and I there are big supermarkets, Conad, Carrefour, Esselunga, Gigante in Gallaratte, I am not sure which one would be the best pricewise and if they will be open on sunday. Will definitely look out for Venchi , Piedmontese and Perugina chocolates. Nigel, personally I love Ritter Sport , specially the ones with the whole hazelnuts, I will buy some for myself although buying them bulk for gifting maybe expensive I guess, my assumptions are based on a previous short trip to Zurich where I found swiss chocolates quite expensive! It wont really matter to the people back home if the chocolates are really swiss or italian as long as they get some good melt in the mouth swiss quality chocolates :)