Chocolate Festival, Florence, Italy

Are you feeling sad and blue?  Too many dark, dreary days of winter getting you down? I have good news if you want to positively raise your seratonin level and enjoy an anti-depressant ... without taking a pill.  

Start your day with a banana in the morning.  Put on your sneakers and walk or jog over to Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, in the sunshine and warmer days that we are finally experiencing (a sure sign of spring's approach).  You'll get a bit of exercise.  Go any time between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.  And then load up on your dose of chocolate in whichever form you prefer. Chocolate-covered coffee beans, chocolate salami, cremino (chocolate cream, essentially the Italian equivalent of fudge), chocolate kebab are some of my personal favorites.  But there are many more choices. The chocolate vendors are representing most regions of Italy with their local specialties in chocolate.

 And while you are at it, you can buy your honey a chocolate treat for St. Valentine's Day.

I promise you the samples are certain to cause you to wear a smile.  The chocolate festival began only yesterday, and I have already stopped by three times, and more than likely I will go get my chocolate fix every day until the festival closes on Sunday, February 13.