How is it that Switzerland, which has never had a colony to provide it with cocoa, has managed to become one of the most prestigious names in the world of chocolate? With neither a substantially aristocratic society nor an organized guild of chocolate makers, this small alpine country nonetheless transformed the culture of chocolate over a period that spanned the late 18th century – when chocolate making entered the country from Italy – and the eve of the First World War – by which time the chocolate industry was running at full steam. From the skill and passion of a few families to the nationwide taste for chocolate, there is a historical thread that runs through Swiss towns, their chocolateries, and a whole symbolic landscape which thrived in a largely protestant society.