Today Garzotto Rocco is an important brand in the production of Mandorlato, the famous Italian Christmas candy also known as Torrone or Nougat. Let's take a look at the origin of this firm and how it became an awarded producer of Italian quality candies.

It all began in Cologna Veneta, charming town to the South-Est of Verona, with roman origins and the noble architectural mark of Venice. It is there that the history and charm of this speciality of superlative quality and delightful taste, still faithful to the traditional recipe and working process, did originate.

It was in 1840 that the apothecary Rocco Garzotto did have the brilliant intuition: blending together what the ancient Romans called “the food of the gods”, that is honey, with white of egg, sugar and shelled almonds. Of course, together with these simple and precious ingredients, all the technical and creative skills of the inventor were needed, as well as a slow and laborious working process that still today is lasting for more than 9 hours, which still requires skilled manual labour: these are some of the secrets of the famous Mandorlato veneto, the best quality of Italian Torrone or Nougat.

From mouth to mouth, Mandorlato's fame soon crossed the walls of Cologna Veneta. The limited production of almonds from the near valley of the river Illasi was not any longer sufficient to satisfy the growing demand. So Rocco Garzotto, who was a perfectionist and heir to the tradition that had seen the ships of the Venetian Republic leave the “Serene” laggon and confront the seas on the course of spices, left home to go in search of the best ingredients: the almonds from Ceglie del Campo of Apulia, the precious honey from Zafferana Etnea of Sicily, and the new-laid eggs from the farms near home.

No additives, no added flavours, only genuine and tasty ingredients which originate from the same typical places: nothing has changed since then.
Today it is still the Garzotto family who keeps the secret of the original recipe, handing on the will of its inventor.
And it is still the Garzotto family who runs the business and takes part in the working process with the very traditional method, to produce a delicious Nougat candy as 160 years ago.

The original and incomparable Mandorlato of Cologna Veneta, by the awarded firm Garzotto Rocco & Son, which won prizes at the international exhibitions, which yielded to its inventor even the same for one century and a half. Still, the legend goes on.

The formula of the legendary Mandorlato is not the only achievement of Rocco Garzotto's genius and talent. In fact, he designed the technologies through which the production was mechanised. The picture shows the prototype of the first kneading-machine: a scale model realised by Rocco Garzotto himself, which is jealously kept by the family in the firm's offices. Originally, this machine was operated by muscle power and continuous shifts of workers were therefore required. Time after, the same machine was powered by an engine.
The use of more and more efficient machinery didn't made it possible, however, to wholly substitute skilled manual labour. It doesn't exist yet, for instance, a technology that can do the critical job of “stretching” the Mandorlato, still hot, into the mouldings. It is a technique that actually requires particular know-how and craftsmanship and still relies on the nude hands of skilled personnel.

In every field of human knowledge and acting, in the sciences, in the letters, in music as well as in the more humble yet not less noble confectioner's art, there are masterpieces which overstep the borders of geography and time, so that the name of he who conceived them becomes everlasting. One of these masterpieces is the legendary Mandorlato by Rocco Garzotto.