texts by Antonella Burdi

The first love-message of Perugina. Born in 1922 it has been put in the “Kisses” so far

Interior of Perugina Museum, in San Sisto (Perugia), centre of Italy

Perugia, the capital of Umbria region, owes its reputation much to a chocolate which has been one of the favourites of gourmands for years as well as being the most symbolic for those who would like to express love, affection and sympathy in the sweetest way. With its creamy giandiua and chopped hazelnut filling covered with dark chocolate, the silver foil with blue stars and the box that depicts one of the most romantic kisses in the history of painting, the aforesaid chocolate remains legendary. The pack, almost unchanged for decades, was conceived by Federico Seneca who is a designer and graphic artist, one of the most important italian advertising poster designers and artistic director of Perugina. He was also responsible for selecting the image of the couple in love which kiss each other both gently and strongly, inspired by the painting "The Kiss" of Francesco Hayez, the leading italian painter of historical romantism. It was Francesco Seneca's idea, probably, to insert a scroll of a love message in each "kiss of chocolate" which is still the hallmark. It was 1922.

In 1960s, Perugina was moved to San Sisto, a resort a few kilometers far from the city center. For who are more curious, there is also a historical museum in Perugina. Outside the building looks like a gray shed with two illuminated signs, one blue and the other red, whereas inside as well as the production departments there is the Museum of the History of Perugina which is part of italian industrial heritage. The museum, opened in 1997 on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the company as a branch of the historical Buitoni Perugina, holds one of the largest archives of the enterprise. When we talk about Perugina, we also talk about an interesting part of italian tradition by means of the company and its products. It contains a large collection of material in the form of archive, which is now under the protection of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

An old advertising of Perugina

An old advertising of Perugina

The archive includes an exhibition of production machinery and Perugina packs from 1907 to the present, three audiovisual worstations to show a technical movie of processing the chocolate and movies of conditions in 1930s and 1950s on corporate life. Another interesting part of the museum is the place which is dedicated to the exhibition of the products over time: varying from a collection of commercials from Carosello in 1957 to modern marketing communication. Visiting this museum is an exciting journey between photos and records, like the first scroll exhibited and the box used in 1920s; a journey among many products which had accompanied the entire italian generation. A rich tasting welcomes the visitors. Today, with sixty-thousand visitors a year, the historic museum of Perugina is the second biggest museum of an Italian company after that of Ferrari. Entrance free, For reservation call tel 075.5276796 www.perugina.it