Modica's Chocolate Festival Loses Its Dates as Board Seeks Deferral

In the Sala della Regina at Montecitorio, on Wednesday 30 September 2026, Salvatore Peluso, president of the Consorzio di Tutela del Cioccolato di Modica IGP, and the Consorzio's director, Nino Scivoletto, took their seats for the presentation of a parliamentary report on agri-food heritage, economic fraud, the market and consumer protection. The journalist Simona Branchetti moderated. Jacopo Morrone, who chairs the parliamentary commission of inquiry into illicit activities connected with the waste cycle and environmental and agri-food offences, opened the event by setting out the main contents of the report approved by the bicameral commission. Stefano Vaccari, a Secretary of the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, spoke afterwards, as did the president of Coldiretti, whom the source names only as Ettore.

By 1 October 2026 the conversation had moved back to Modica, and to the town's own protected product. The Consorzio's board of directors confirmed by a large majority that ChocoModica could not be held on the dates of 30 October to 1 November 2026. Behind the decision lay Corso Umberto. The Comitato dei Commercianti del Centro Storico had asked for the city's main street to be excluded from the event area, so as to avoid closing it to vehicle traffic and to protect the commercial activities of the zone; the municipal administration shared that request and the Consorzio accepted it. Losing the site already identified, the board said, interrupted the organisational work already under way and made the event unsustainable on those dates. It added that it was ready to move the festival later, on condition that the Regione Siciliana authorises the deferral and confirms the contribution already assigned.

The dispute over dates is not the only discussion surrounding the IGP. Innocenzo Pluchino, a businessman in the sector, published a reflection he said arose from discussions with friends and historic operators in the trade, and which ranged beyond the argument over the festival's timing to structural questions: the figures issued by the Consorzio, tourist programming, and a concrete proposal for a large experiential project open 365 days a year. His starting point was data recently issued by the Consorzio di Tutela on traceability.

The points of pressure differ by actor. For the merchants of the historic centre, the concern was the interdiction of traffic and the effect on their shops; for the Consorzio, the loss of the site it had identified and the organisational reset that followed; for the regional government, whether to authorise a later date and confirm money already assigned. Whether ChocoModica takes place later in the season now rests with the Regione Siciliana rather than with the Consorzio.

As matters stand, the festival has no confirmed dates, Corso Umberto has been struck from the area of the event, and the board's willingness to reschedule depends on an authorisation and a contribution it has yet to receive.