Hot chocolate, bicerin and Risorgimento sweets such as the "Garibaldi" cookie: it is with this snack, typical of the House of Savoy, that Turin cafes celebrate 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
In Turin, the gluttonous side of the Unification of Italy is celebrated: some establishments, with waiters dressed in nineteenth-century costumes, reintroduce the royal snack of the House of Savoy: a tradition born in the 1700s to cheer the Savoy court's chatter with cups of hot chocolate accompanied by torcetti, savoiardi and canestrelli, under the reign of Victor Emmanuel II this ritual opened up to the winds of the Risorgimento. In fact, thanks mainly to the bicerin, the drink made with espresso, chocolate, and milk cream, ladies began to frequent the various cafeterias, which in those days were frequented only by men, transforming them into lively social lounges.
The bicerin, served strictly in the glass, was accompanied by pastries such as chifel (similar to the Viennese croissant), foré (a doughnut), shortbread brioche with or without fennel, and the crumbly little parisien. The royal snack, until then reserved only for the nobility, then became a habit of the Turin bourgeoisie, which enriched it with noasets (Chiavasso hazelnuts) and two tributes to the hero of the Two Worlds: the garibaldin (a slice of plain bread) and the Garibaldi cookie, made of shortbread filled with raisins and apricot jam.
This tradition followed the Savoy even to the new capitals of united Italy, Florence and Rome, as the court cook, Giovanni Vlaiardi, followed the court's move.
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