From Rapallo to San Francisco, one chocolate empire
Domenico Ghirardelli was born in Rapallo, on the Ligurian coast of Italy, in 1817, the son of a spice merchant. He left for Uruguay at twenty, then ran a confectionery in Lima, Peru. The Gold Rush drew him to California in 1849: he spent a few months prospecting before realizing that selling chocolate to the miners paid better than digging. In 1852 he founded his company in San Francisco, and the old factory now lives on as Ghirardelli Square, that Ligurian surname spelled out in giant letters over the bay.
