The melodious name alone transports us back to our summer holiday in Italy. We visited our long-time partners Piergiorgio Marchisio and hazelnut farmer Fabio Francone in Levice in Piedmont, and were able to witness the harvest. Amidst the hazelnut trees set in the sprawling, hilly fields, we were able to escape the outside world for a few hours and learn all about these little, nutritious orbs.
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In the early hours of the morning, the thermometer already sits at 30° C in Levice, which lies 150 kilometers south-west of Milan. A hot, late-summer’s day awaits us. It won’t be the last. On this day, our two companions will tell us all about the challenges posed by the changing climate.
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Hazelnuts from Piedmont are regarded as being among the best in the world. And they are a little rarity: they make up just one to two percent of the global harvest. However it’s not just their high standards in terms of quality and freshness that Marchisio and Läderach have in common; both family companies are now being managed by the third generation.
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In 1955, Piergiorgio Marchisio’s grandfather founded his own hazelnut business, which still bears the family name to this day. At the time, the hazelnut trade represented an ideal alternative to many, as cattle farming was continuously declining in the region. This agricultural business learned from an early stage to constantly adapt to new conditions – something that continues to be a necessity today. The ideal weather for hazelnut trees consists of cold winters, rainy springs, and hot summers. Yet climate change is resulting in ever more frequent, heavy rainfall and storms, which in turn help the proliferation of pests. This can negatively impact the quality of the hazelnuts. To prevent this, the farmers work with special drying machines.
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In 1955, Piergiorgio Marchisio’s grandfather founded his own hazelnut business, which still bears the family name to this day.
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Fabio Francone is one such farmer. His land has also been in his family’s possession for many years. Together with his brother and father, he supplies the Marchisio company with his top-quality hazelnuts – Tonda Gentile Trilobata, as they are known here. These are harvested during the period from mid-August to mid-September. The harvest can weigh somewhere between 12 and 15 tons. Using careful and innovative adaptations, the Marcone family has continuously expanded this volume in recent years, he explains as we walk through his field. He explains every stage of the harvest to us: which steps are aided with machinery, and which steps are still performed by hand to this day.
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Marchisio and Läderach have been working together for many years. This successful partnership is based on lots of trust, which has always been placed in them even in years when the harvest was difficult. The focus has never been on price, but always on the quality of the raw material, even if the increased demand in terms of quantity sometimes poses a small challenge, as Piergiorgio Marchisio explains to us with a laugh. However, it is of course also a source of great pride to him that our milk chocolate FrischSchoggi with hazelnuts is among the most popular in the world.
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This successful partnership is based on lots of trust, which has always been placed in them even in years when the harvest was difficult.
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