Shoppers at expanding shopping outlet in Leccio, near Rignano sull’Arno, will begin to fill their bags with a new kind of specialty item, chocolates from famous Florentine cafè and bakery Rivoire. Amidst luxury labels like Gucci, Balenciaga, Valentino and Burberry, this is the first time the 145-year-old Florentine brand has set up a store outside of its home in piazza della Signoria.
The small café has been inaugurated near American megastore Nike close to shopping outlet The Mall.
Rivoire has been a Florentine staple since its foundation in 1872 by Piedmontese artisan chocolatier Enrico Rivoire. In 1977 it passed into the hands of the Bardelli family who were serving Florentines until early last year. February 2016 saw the business bought for more than eight million euros by Nikila Invest CEO Ilaria Niccolai, a business partner of Tiziano Renzi, father of Italy’s former prime minister.
The wooden panelling and brass décor of the piazza della Signoria salon is familiar to all Florentines and has hosted past Italian heads of state including Giorgio Napolitano.
Now that it has established itself in Reggello the Rivoire brand is setting its sights further abroad with the hope of opening in major cities like Milan, New York and Paris.
*Following information provided by sources, this article was amended at 22:25 04/01/2017. Errata corrige: the new Rivoire cafe’ in Leccio is not part of The Mall Outlet.
