Mezzasoma chocolate
“A great love born out of a dislike for maths”. Master chocolatier Michele Mezzasoma sums up his story like this, and it begins with an escape. “I would have liked to choose art school”, he says, “but I decided to go to catering college precisely to avoid the weekly maths lesson”. At the “Saffi” institute in Florence he discovers cooking, then pastry, and finally the greatest love of all: chocolate.
Today that passion has turned into dragées, pralines and cremini, each one created by hand, one at a time, with selected, organically produced ingredients. The rule they all share is always the same: if it does not make you want to eat it right away, it does not leave the workshop.
Chocolate, what a passion
Born in Florence in 1968, Mezzasoma starts out in the kitchen, between restaurants and hotels, also as a member of the Federazione Italiana Cuochi (the Italian Federation of Chefs). Then he moves into pastry and understands where he was heading all along: chocolate.
In 1995 Mezzasoma meets the Bonci family and knows immediately that he has ended up in the right place: the same idea of craftsmanship, the same top-quality ingredients, the same appetite for trying something new. That was the start of a partnership that is still going and that in recent years has taken on a name of its own, the Mezzasoma di Pasticceria Bonci brand.
His creations are made for people who love chocolate for real: some stay loyal to the classics, others let themselves be tempted by the boldest combinations, and both of them find plenty to get their teeth into here. Michele likes to mix tastes, shapes and colours until something nobody expected comes out. And every single piece he signs with his own mark.
