A new Tuscan exhibition looks at how chocolate developed under Florence's Medici dynasty and the inventive ways in which the family exploited it.
The dynasty's use of patronage in the fields of art and architecture to enhance its prestige and power while ruling Renaissance-era Tuscany has been well documented by historians.
The show at the Civic Museum of Monsummano Terme, which is some 50km north of Florence, highlights how the Medici also used chocolate to gain influence, employing it as a sort of PR tool.
Chocolate came to Europe from the New World in the 16th century following Spain and Portugal's conquests in the Americas. For a long time it was consumed as a drink, like the Maya and Aztec civilizations had used it. It came to Tuscany at the start of the 17th century, but took around 50 years more to become widely popular. Once it took hold, however, the Medici made the most of it.
Cosimo III, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, commissioned the development of new delicious hot chocolate recipes to rival those of the Spaniards, who were the experts of the time thanks to their head start. This produced many varieties, including drinks with musk and exquisite jasmine-flavoured chocolate, the recipe of which was made a state secret.
By offering visiting dignitaries the drinks, along with a host of other culinary delights, the Medici were able to showcase their magnificence. And being allowed to taste the jasmine-flavoured chocolate was also a sign that you had made it in 17th-century Tuscany. Only the most exclusive circles of court, those directly under the Grand Duke's protection, got to try the "divine drink".
The Medici family rose from humble merchant origins to rule Florence and Tuscany. They held power from 1434 to 1737, producing three popes and two queens of France and becoming important art patrons who exerted a vital influence over Renaissance Florence.
The show - entitled Cioccolata: dalla perfezione spagnola alla squisita gentilezza della corte di Toscana (Chocolate: from Spanish perfection to the exquisite courtesy of the Tuscan court) - does not just look at the Medici. It also traces the history of chocolate from its arrival in Europe to the present day and the influence it has had on literature and music.
The exhibition opens February 4 and runs until April 30.
