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In 1964, the first ever jar of Nutella was sold in a small patisserie in the Piedmont region, after Pietro Ferrero succeeded in refining an ‘austerity’ recipe to feed the population of the 1950s, devastated after the Second World War.
In the midst of this dystopian paradigm, in which cocoa was extremely scarce, Ferrero found a solution to the problem by creating a sweet paste based on hazelnuts, sugar and cocoa. Thus was born the precursor of Nutella as we know it. The addition of hazelnuts, a cheaper and more readily available product, would make the cream much more affordable for the people.
The first recipe for the ‘crème’ dates from 1946, called ‘Giandujot’, presented as a sweet pastry moulded with hazelnuts and chocolate which could be cut into slices and spread on bread. It was named after a mythical character from the local carnival.
In 1951 this dough evolved into ‘SQUISITA SUPERCREMA’, refined by the son of the pastry chef Michele Ferrero, which he would transform into this new easy-to-spread creamy product that he renamed Nutella.
In 1964, Nutella was born with an improved recipe of hazelnut and cocoa cream which, a year later, would be encapsulated in its representative jar with a design that would be officially launched in Germany in 1965.
Fifty years later, the inventor of Nutella would become the richest person in Italy and the 30th richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Michele Ferrero would die the following year, leaving a great legacy to the world.
