Choco-Story Torino Chocolate Museum

Turin has a fair claim to be Italy’s chocolate capital. Its confectioners were making solid chocolate in the eighteenth century, and when cocoa became scarce in the nineteenth they stretched it with local hazelnuts, creating gianduia and the little boat-shaped gianduiotto that you will see in every café window. Choco-Story Torino, on Via Paolo Sacchi beside Porta Nuova station, tells that story in an accessible, hands-on way. A collection of more than seven hundred objects, from cups and moulds to packaging and advertising, traces the history of cocoa from the Maya and Aztecs through its arrival in European courts to the industrial age. Animations explain how chocolate is made, and interactive games cover the origins of gianduia. The visit ends with a tasting of different chocolates. It is a short, sweet, rainy-day plan that works well for families and is an easy first stop if you arrive by train.

How it works: the Tiqets product linked here includes entry, a multilingual audio guide in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish, and a chocolate tasting. Allow about ninety minutes. Last admission is thirty minutes before closing, and temporary exhibitions and special events are not included. Tickets on this product cannot be refunded or rescheduled, so pick your date carefully.

What you see: the route moves from the origins of cocoa in Central America to the chocolate houses of Europe and on to Turin’s own story, with the invention of gianduia and the rise of the city’s confectioners. Displays are visual and short, which keeps children engaged, and the tasting at the end lets you compare styles.

Making the most of it: combine the museum with a classic Turin chocolate crawl. Order a bicerin, the layered drink of coffee, chocolate and cream, in a historic café, and buy gianduiotti from one of the old confectioners in the centre. Porta Nuova station and Via Roma are both a few minutes away, so this is easy to fit in on arrival or departure day.