L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano B aci Perugina m u s t b e t h e best-known Ital- ian chocolate in the world: with their silver wrapping covered in blue stars, they look like a precious stone and they are pretty enough to be gifted just like that, on their own and out of your hand. Then, when you open them, you don't only find a delicious c h o c o l a t e , b u t a l s o a t i n y piece of white wax paper sur- rounding it, which contains a love message. Written in blue and in several languages, it is a gift within a gift and often puts into words what that bacio means. Because Baci Perugina are the chocolates of Valentine's Day, they are a symbol of passion and endur- ing love between two people. They are the most romantic of all candies. K n o w i n g a l l t h i s , i t becomes difficult to imagine that, at least initially, these creamy symbols of romanti- cism were supposed to be called cazzotti, a very familiar and even slightly crass rendi- tion of the word pugni, or "punches." To understand why and learn about their name and popular associa- tion with love, we need to step back one hundred years. La Società Perugina was founded in 1907 by busi- nessmen Francesco Buitoni, L e o n e A s c o l i , F r a n c e s c o A n d r e a n i , a n d A n n i b a l e Spagnoli. Spagnoli's wife Luisa, who had a penchant for commerce and business, got involved in the company pretty soon and she was the one who, in 1922, created the f i r s t b a c i o : a s y o u w o u l d expect from any crafty Italian woman of those years, she didn't want to see chocolate left over from other produc- t i o n s g o t o w a s t e , s o s h e came out with the idea of putting together a creamy ball of gianduja and hazelnut crumbs, top it with a whole toasted hazelnut and cover it with Perugina's trademark "Luisa" dark chocolate. She called her creation cazzotto, a f a m i l i a r s y n o n y m f o r "punch," because she thought the praline looked a lot like a closed fist, ready to hit. The bacio was delicious, but that name … that name wasn't right. "How could a customer come into our store and ask, perhaps to a pretty sale assistant, 'please, could I have a cazzotto?'" thought Giovanni Buitoni, young administrator at Perugina. A n d h o w c o u l d w e b l a m e him? He came out with the much more charming name b a c i o , " k i s s , " p e r h a p s because Luisa, who was his l o v e r , h a d i n v e n t e d t h e chocolate. Buitoni also want- ed to change its shape, trans- forming the "punch" into, some say, a delicate woman's breast. By the way, you can d e c i d e y o u r s e l f w h e t h e r that's true or not, because the shape of baci has remained the same since. Baci became a success, and not only because they were - and still are - delicious chocolates. The advertising campaign created for them w a s j u s t p u r e g e n i u s , s o much so that we still see the same iconic color palette of blue and muted azure and image on their boxes today. Painter and early graphic designer Federico Seneca was Perugina's art director in the 1920s, and he was the creator of the famous couple of lovers kissing on an indigo background we are all famil- iar with. To be truthful, the indigo has become in time a more vibrant light blue, but the feeling remains the same. S e n e c a w a s i n s p i r e d b y Francesco Hayez's famous "Kiss:" he changed the lovers' background, transforming it into a minimalist one-dimen- sional blue and indigo slate, m a d e t h e i r c l o t h e s m o r e modern, and changed the girl's posture slightly to cre- ate what is, today, an ageless classic of Italian advertise- ment art. Seneca was also the mind behind baci's shiny sil- v e r a n d b l u e w r a p p i n g s , w h i c h w e r e s u p p o s e d t o remind people of moonlight. The chocolate, the logo, the wrappings … but what about the love messages inside? Well, legends say that it w a s S e n e c a a g a i n t o a d d them in the 1930s, inspired by the secret love messages for Giovanni Buitoni that Luisa Spagnoli would hide in the chocolates. As beautiful and apt to the product as this explanation may be, it's more likely the idea was imported from the US by Buitoni him- self. And the earliest maxims weren't romantic at all, but more like little limericks: for instance, the first phrase was meglio un bacio oggi che una gallina domani, "better a kiss today than a hen tomor- row," a wordplay on the pop- ular Italian saying meglio un uovo oggi che una gallina domani. O u r w o r d t h i s week, chiac- c h i e r e ( k i a h k - k i e h - r a i ) i s b o t h pleasant and tasty, and it is also very much in line with the time of the year we are in, Carnevale. It is the plur- a l f o r m o f c h i a c c h i e r a , which comes from the verb chiacchierare, "to chat." We started using both some- time in the 16th century. Chiacchiera and chiac- chierare likely have an ono- matopoeic etymology, that i s , t h e y c o m e f r o m t h e sound we produce when we make the action of "chiac- chierare," just like in the c a s e o f t h e F r e n c h n o u n - verb combo claque-claquer (the clapping of hands-to clap) or the English verb to clack. The main meaning of chi- acchiere, the one associated with the verb chiacchierare, i s " c h a t t e r , " " s m a l l t a l k , " "talk," but also "rumor." For instance, we can say Niente chiacchiere, dobbiamo lavo- rare! ("No small talks, we h a v e t o w o r k ! " ) , b u t a l s o Non credere a quelle storie, s o n o s o l o c h i a c c h i e r e ("Don't believe all those sto- ries, they're only rumors"). There is another impor- tant meaning of chiacchiere we must mention, especially this time of the year: indeed, c h i a c c h i e r e a r e t h o s e a s - l i g h t - a s - a - f e a t h e r a n d crunchy deep-fried cookies t y p i c a l o f t h e I t a l i a n Carnevale. We make them everywhere, from North to S o u t h , b u t t h e y c h a n g e name! You may know them as chiacchiere of course, but also as bugie, frappe, cenci, crostoli, cunchiell' and even merveilles in Valle d'Aosta and maraviglias in Sardinia. Chiacchiere is, perhaps, the most common epithet, and it originates, legends say, from a t i m e w h e n Q u e e n Margherita of Savoia (yes, the same as the pizza!) asked her pastry chef, Neapolitan Raffaele Esposito, to prepare a special treat for her and a group of friends. He came o u t w i t h t h e s e c l o u d - l i k e d e l i c a c i e s , w h i c h w e r e , i n d e e d , a s l i g h t a s c h i a c - chiere with friends. Abbiamo solo fatto quat- tro chiacchiere We've just had a chat A Carnevale si mangiano chiacchiere da Nord a Sud! From North to South, we e a t c h i a c c h i e r e f o r Carnevale! Ci sono delle chiacchiere in giro, dicono che potrebbe avere una promozione There are some rumors saying she may get a promo- tion LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day: chiacchiere - are they words or cookies? Italian curiosities: do you know the story of Bacio Perugina? Baci Perugina: today's logo (Photo: Dean Bertoncelj/Dreamstime) Photo: Photopips/Dreamstime

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