Valentine’s Day 2025 with Baci Perugina 3.0

There are those who turn up their noses at the idea of a QR code inserted in the love messages contained in the iconic Baci Perugina, a symbol of incorruptible romanticism, the last bastion of old-fashioned lovers.

Feel the love is the latest invention from the giant Nestlé, the new special edition designed for Valentine’s Day 2025; for the first time, the iconic love phrases can be discovered and listened to by framing the QR code present in all the cards of the collection. A careful selection of twenty romantic phrases to listen to and dedicate to those you love. But the innovation does not stop there. Listening is guided, in the same matrix, by the pop illustrations of Antonio Colomboni. “This year, we wanted to make you feel the emotions of our Baci with all five senses” – explains Chiara Richiedei, marketing manager Baci Perugina -. The opinions of the followers of the historic Perugian brand (now owned by the giant Nestlé) are contrasting: on one side the indignant supporters of the untouchability of tradition, on the other the promoters of the evolutionary theory, enthusiastic about the ingenious marketing campaign.

Those who know the (true) story of Luisa Spagnoli, a strong-willed entrepreneur ante litteram and creator of the Perugina brand and Baci, know that few people in history have been more innovative. At the beginning of the twentieth century, marketing did not exist but she was already applying it by intercepting the needs of the market to transform them into targeted products, all successful: from Baci for lovers, to Rossana sweets for little girls, to Bananas, to conquer the taste of the little ones, to Fondente Luisa to deal with the shortage of sugar during the wars. It must be said that Luisa Sargentini was also lucky to be supported by men who recognized her entrepreneurial skills and helped her realize her dreams, a little crazy for the time. Thus her husband Annibale Spagnoli shared the opening of the first emporium then a laboratory of confetti, jams and chocolate in via Alessi 23. Thanks to the Buitoni family they founded the Perugina Company together but it was only thanks to the financial capabilities of Giovanni Buitoni, partner and secret love of Luisa that the small factory conquered the international markets. The sons, Aldo, Mario and Armando, helped their mother in the business after the war. Mario dedicated himself to fashion by founding, in the twenties, Angora Spagnoli, based on his mother’s idea while Mario brought innovation to Perugina thanks to advertising campaigns linked to artists and painters until advertising the brand, after his mother’s death, through a new medium: TV.

What would Luisa Spagnoli think about the launch of QR codes?

At this point the answer is almost obvious. She would be enthusiastic about it but perhaps, living in our days, she would have proposed it herself, maybe even a few years earlier. Would she have used QR codes instead of notes to message Giovanni? No, she would have simply used WhatsApp! Who knows… Maybe she would not have sold the brand to a multinational or maybe yes. Would she have devoted herself to the new interest in fashion for wool garments made from the angora rabbits she raised? Probably at a certain point in her life she would have dedicated herself to helping the weakest, as she had always done in life, creating the first welfare for employees, including nursery school. We will never know since she left this life in 1935 at only 58 years old. Thanks to her brilliant ideas, Perugia has become an international point of reference for chocolate.

It was an entrepreneur from Perugia, Eugenio Guarducci, who thirty years ago collected his moral legacy by building, year after year, the success of the Eurochocolate event, an event that found its natural evolution in the City of Chocolate – museum, factory, choco shop and chocolate bar -. The building that will open next spring will be located in an area of about 2,800 square meters in the former covered market, the same one that Spagnoli used for its goods, behind its first laboratory. The project was developed by Destinazione Cioccolato Srl and involves an investment of about six million euros, fully approved, thanks also to the Mimit’s Italia Economia Sociale measure (promoted by Invitalia) and the support of the regional financial company Gepafin through the Umbria Innova measure. A further million euros collected through the recently concluded crowdfunding campaign will be added to the initial capital.

For the curious who want to go beyond the glossy story to grasp the eclectic spirit of the entrepreneur and the tenacious personality of Luisa Sergentini, I leave you three ideas.

Visit her first laboratory in via Alessi, 23, which has remained intact since the factory moved to Fontivegge. A full immersion in her world that will allow you to enter a highly evocative space-time dimension. The premises are always closed but it is possible to periodically make a visit by reservation with Gran Tour Perugia.
Read Luisa, written by Paola Jacobbi, produced by Aldo Spagnoli. The latest book dedicated to the entrepreneur was released a few months ago, inspired by some writings of a former employee of the factory.
Taste the chocolates produced by her granddaughter of the same name who makes them according to the original recipes with excellent raw materials in the shop in via Todi in Perugia, the Spagnoli Confiserie du Chocolat Perugia.