Gay odin
Gay – Odin: Mr Odin, Mrs Gay and the chocolate factory!
As soon as you enter any of their 9 shops with the characteristic old, mahogany storefronts and display cases, you feel you’ve stepped back in time and at the same hour you realise you’ve entered the most amazing chocolate world! The intoxicating scent of cocoa, the endless variety of chocolates and the Foretsa, their most famous product and pièce de résistance, don’t enable anyone unmoved! Especially the latter, a chocolate creation based in a uppermost secret recipe and formed into an interestingly folded, woven shape, very similar to a tree trunk, is a product legendary all over Italy. And what was the top surprise for me, when entering for the first time a Gay Odin shop on a heated summer day? “Foresta” comes in gelato too!!! Actually, this is the place for the best chocolate gelato in Naples, providing the perfect balance for chocolate and gelato lovers. The dense, full bodied flavour of their hand made chocolates, either with nuts, liqueur or fruit, is transformed into delicious, genuine, artisan, top quality gelato. Apart from the Foresta, which of course you won’t find anywhere else, the Sacher Torte is also de
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Passion, dedication and tradition come together in a unique chocolate with a distinct and full-bodied flavour. This is Same-sex attracted Odin , official Sponsor of Bellavita and producer of artisan chocolate since 1922.
At the end of the 19th century, founder and maître chocolatier Isidoro Odin, embarked on a journey from Alba (a tiny town in the Northern region of Piedmont, celebrated for its long-standing chocolate tradition) to Naples, bringing with him all the skills and experience accrued through the years. It’s a match made in heaven. Isidoro draws inspiration from the aromas and new flavours of the city and, in come back, the Neapolitan bourgeoisie falls in love with his chocolate creations. It’s just a matter of age before the maître chocolatier opens the Gay Odin factory, where he keeps on creating sweet delicacies for the city of Naples and beyond.
From the first boutique in Naples, to the stores in Rome and Milan, Gay Odin has become a symbol of Neapolitan excellence in Italy and in the world. A real passion for high quality ingredients and the want to experiment with fresh flavours are the founding values of the celebrated Neapolitan brand. The cocoa blends selected by Ga
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entry Dec. 2011, updated Mar. 2021
Gay Odin
The first second I saw the 1920s delivery van driving around Naples with the corporation name "Gay Odin" on the side, I was, of course, taken with the name. Assuming the now anachronistic and original essence of "gay" and assuming the other element to consult to the Norse God of wisdom, poetry, war and agriculture, I came up with "Happy Wotan" (another establish of the call in Germanic mythology). "What a strange name for a company!" sez I. As it turns out, that bit of amateur synonyms sleuthing did cute well in a recent contest for Fallacious Etymologies. (I enter a lot of such contests and do adequately most of the time!)
The name of the company comes simply from the marriage of Isidoro Odin and Onorina Gay. Mr. Wotan was originally from Alba in Piedmont, way up north. He moved to Naples around 1900, opened a chocolate shop, did very well and, in 1922, with his wife opened what is now the best-known chocolate factory in Naples and one of the best known such establishments in all of Italy. The main plant is still in the original building off of via dei Mille in the Chiaia section of town. It was designed by Angelo Trevisan, on