The chocolate factories. Stories of companies and of work, from the Intesa Sanpaolo IMI and Publifoto archives.

An album of photographs of the “Società Anonima Cioccolato Perugina” from the 1930s, containing 15 extraordinary photographs of the facilities and the workers (many of them women) working on the complex production line of the famous ’ Baci'; some colourful brochures of the Piedmontese companies Venchi and Talmone, showing the exquisite packaging of their delicious chocolates; and then product catalogues and price lists - divided into those for Italy and those “for export”, articles and magazines about the Italian confectionery industry, and company financial statements, full of tables, graphs and photographs. There's even a copy of a survey by Doxa from March 1946 entitled “Investigation into the consumption of sugar and confectionery products”! And finally, to end on a sweet note, an interesting report by the Publifoto Agency,  dated 7 February 1950, with pictures taken inside the Alemagna workshop in Milan, where Easter eggs were being decorated and personalised by hand.

These are just some of the original documents preserved in the Publifoto Archive and in the Archive of the Intesa Sanpaolo Istituto Mobiliare Italiano (IMI), which are part of the project entitled The Chocolate Factories. Stories of companies and of work, from the Intesa Sanpaolo IMI and Publifoto archives.

A journey that can be explored either in a video in the Sala Turinetti on the main floor of the Gallerie d'Italia - Intesa Sanpaolo Museum in Turin, or live by taking part in the guided tours organised by the Archives during the event, and which tells the story of the production and marketing of chocolate from the 1930s to the 1960s through the lens of the valuable photographs and documents preserved in the Bank's Historical Archives.

Chocolate is a “superfluous” item that went, during the 20^th century, from being a luxury to becoming more and more accessible – even if only occasionally – to a large part of the population, reflecting a change in lifestyle. It is no mere coincidence that companies in the chocolate trade invested heavily in advertising, to capture an ever-increasing number of consumers attracted by the quality of the product, but also by exquisite packaging created to be reused in the home as ornaments or even as pieces of furniture.

In the decades considered in this itinerary, alongside strictly artisanal production of the highest quality, we see the growth of a real chocolate industry, which needed to draw on capital from banks to grow and compete with neighbouring markets (Switzerland, Germany, Belgium) and it did so mainly by introducing important changes in the field of research, the processing of raw materials and the mechanisation of operations, from production to packaging.

A story just waiting to be discovered, that allows the visitor to learn about a piece of the history of business, society and labour linked to one of the most iconic and indispensable foods on our table!