Master Chocolatier Riccardo Depetris grew up in the family workshop, where chocolate has been made for over forty years. Trained at hotel school and honed through intensive courses across France, Spain, Germany, and the United States, he brings a genuinely international palate to a deeply rooted Piedmontese craft. 

The philosophy is unambiguous: small-batch, uncompromising quality. As Riccardo puts it, "I am a small niche chocolatier. In the world of wine, the big houses make the numbers, the small producers make the quality." That ethos extends all the way to the source — he travels personally to origin, including visits to plantations in the Dominican Republic, to evaluate each stage of cacao production. 

The signature line, Cioccolato del Monviso, is a tribute to the mountain that defines the region — a fusion of Po Valley terroir and the tropical atmospheres where the finest cacao grows. Standout creations include the Persi Pien praline, which earned a silver medal at the International Chocolate Awards and a special prize for best use of local and typical products. 

Rated in the top 10% of chocolates worldwide on TasteAtlas, the brand has collected International Chocolate Awards medals across multiple years — silver in 2020 and 2023, bronze in 2022. At the 2023 World Final, Depetris Riccardo was recognised among Italy's elite in nut-based categories alongside names like Guido Castagna and the Gardini brothers. 

For the palate that seeks chocolate with a genuine sense of place — this is Piedmont in its purest form.

Why Hello Chocolate chose this brand

We chose Depetris Riccardo because he represents something rare: a chocolatier who is completely uninterested in scale. Every bar is made in Revello, in the same family workshop where his parents worked for forty years. The awards are real, the sourcing is rigorous, and the flavours are unmistakably Piedmontese. This is exactly the kind of maker Hello Chocolate exists to find.