Entering this shop with workshop annexed is always fun. It’s a veritable realm of chocolate and yeasted cakes born of the union (in work and in life) of Elena Boella and Stefano Silvola. She is a descendent of a family of Alba pastry chefs famous for the quality of their panettoni, he a producer of chocolates such as the iconic Sorrisi di Torino (filled with rum, grappa, amaretto, bombardino (a beverage of zabaglione, cream, brandy and coffee), orange and hazelnut. At Boella & Sorrisi it is chocolate that steals the scene with a range of 36 varieties of individual chocolates, about 50 types of chocolate bar and a number of cream spreads. In addition to gianduiotti (also available in a miniature version), they produce seven different types of cremini (mini chocolate sandwiches), from plain (including vegan versions) to two-flavor and hazelnut. Then come classic yeasted cakes: a novelty this year is panettone filled with pistachio cream. The range comprises 18 cakes (all hand-wrapped), including Nocciollone, made without candied fruit and raisins and filled with Nocciolla cream, made with 40% PGI Piedmontese hazelnuts.
