cioccolata

Italians were introduced to chocolate in 1606, when a merchant named Carletti returned from the West Indies and Spain and brought over the first cocoa beans, starting a fad that has yet to end. Confusingly it can be masculine, cioccolato as well as feminine. Giacomo Casanova would always drink chocolate before a tryst.

Some kinds:

cioccolata al latte: milk chocolate

cioccolata calda: hot chocolate

cioccolate fondente: plain (dark)

cioccolatini are 'chocolates' (as in a sweet or candy)

cioccolato fuso: melted or molten chocolate, or chocolate sauce.

For chocolate with hazelnut paste, see gianduja.

Italians love to carve blocks of chocolate into shapes that have little to do with chocolate Santas and Easter Bunnies (tools—saws, hammers, wrenches, etc— for some reason are extremely popular).