Exotic delicatessens Italy

In the main pedestrian street, this store is a must. You come here to window-shop, almost literally, as the pretty delicacies are displayed in the window. You'll find all the finest sweets, both Valle d'Aostan and Italian. At the top of the list is Mont-Blanc artisan chocolate, available in decorative bars, followed by cookies, jams, honey, sweet and savoury creams, caramels, wines, liqueurs... More than a chocolatier, a true delicatessen. For gourmands, it's enough to make you lose your head!

With such a name (criollo is the noblest variety of cocoa), you can imagine that here it is a matter of taste! And of chocolate! This bar-pastry-chocolate shop, located next to the historic center and therefore away from tourism, makes modern sweet creations that are popular with the locals. You will hear Italian spoken there, which is not necessarily the case a few meters away. On the terrace, you can sip a good coffee accompanied by a slice of Santa Fina, one of the house specialties, with saffron (produced in San Gimignano) and lemon. Yummy!

The saffron! Rita Sala has been working for years with these flowers so fragrant and delicate. On 8,000 ^{m2 of} land, she plants the bulbs and picks the flowers by hand, then separates and dries the 3 red filaments of the pistil. Since it takes about 150 flowers to obtain one gram of dry saffron, this spice is considered one of the most expensive products in the world. And Rita will be able to tell you all about its culture and uses.