Francesco Rivella, who was born in Piedmont, Italy, in 1927, became known as the “father of Nutella”. He worked in the chemistry room of Ferrero, a company that makes chocolate and sweets, including Kinder eggs. It was in this room that the world famous hazelnut spread was created.
Rivella joined Ferrero in 1952, around the same time that Michele Ferrero began managing the company. Michele’s father, Pietro, had already developed a spread that would eventually become Nutella but the recipe hadn’t been perfected.
Rivella and Michele made a good team. In the 1950s, they travelled through northern Europe together, where they’d buy other companies’ chocolate products and take them back to Italy to analyse. Their aim was to turn them into something even better for the company. In the chemistry…
