Steep Via Cairoli connecting two of Viterbo’s main piazze is a typical Italian street with dozens of tiny shops: a bookshop, pharmacy, travel agency and a pastry shop.
The one we feature here, Pasticceria Casantini, has been churning out great cappuccini, gelati and pastries since 1970 and is known for cakes with seasonal themes that can be admired in its window. There are the usual sweets for the Carnival season, but this year also saw unique Etruscan style vases made of chocolate for St.Valentine’s Day. The shop’s chocolate specialist, Katia, showed us pure chocolate bucchero ware similar to vases dating from 500 B.C. kept in the nearby National Museum.
Besides these items though other chocolate “temptations” they have for sale remind us that the Etruscans were the original pleasure seekers and inventors of the “dolce vita”, even if they did not have chocolate. These are discreetly kept behind a red curtain – pushed aside often, however. St.Valentine’s Day saw brisk business.
– Contributed by Mary Jane (see bio), author, historian, cruise ship lecturer, and founder of Elegant Etruria, www.elegantetruria.com, a window on life in central Italy. Her latest book Etruria – travel, history and itineraries in Central Italy has just been released.
