Itinerario 21

The history of the chocolate of Modica and the Bonajuto family sinks in 1854, when Federico Bonajuto inherited the ‘fattojo del ciccolatte’, a sort of stone mill where roasted cocoa beans were processed to produce the mass of cocoa. In 1880 Francesco Bonajuto, following in his father’s footsteps, opened his small confectionery shop immersed in the wonderful Baroque of Modica; from that workshop began to come out delicacies of Arab and Spanish origin fruit of a centuries-old tradition. Today, with over 150 years of life, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto is the oldest chocolate factory in Sicily still in business and one of the oldest in Italy. It owes much of its fame to that artisanal chocolate awarded with the gold medal at the International Exhibition of Rome in 1911. Today that bar, expertly relaunched on the market after a few years of mute, has become a product of excellence, counted among the best eighty qualities of chocolate in the world. What differentiates Modica chocolate from other artisanal products is that it does not contain added cocoa butter, in addition to that naturally present in broad beans. The processing, carried out at temperatures not higher than 45 ºC, melts the butter but not the sugar, giving the bar the typical rough and grainy consistency. At the base of all the productions of Antica Dolceria Bonajuto there is a careful selection of raw materials (cocoa beans, cinnamon, vanilla berries, etc.) and the orientation to the “slow food” philosophybased on the defense of endangered cultures and foods and on the recovery of products rich in tradition, in harmony with ecosystems. For six generations, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto has been handcrafting chocolate and handing down sweets and nougats from the Modica and Sicilian tradition, mostly of Arab or Spanish origin. In 2008 it was included by Eurispes among the 100 excellences of Italy. The Antica Dolceria is still present today in Modica, where, among the baroque wonders, in 1880, Francesco Bonajuto, in the footsteps of his father Federico, decided to open his small confectionery shop.