At first glance, it would be easy to miss Rio Rica, a small, family-owned candy shop and caffé th at is tucked away on a street that is not well traveled. Upon closer inspection, however, a world of rich chocolates and sweet sugary treats opens up. Rio Rica also brews some of the best espresso in town and even serves a chocolate-hazelnut treat on the side.
Sisters Sonia and Laura Calandrini have owned the shop for a little over two years and couldn't imagine working anywhere else. "I love the smell of sugar and coffee in the morning," said Sonia. Her favorite part about the small shop is the coffee bar, while her sister enjoys the candy much more.
The Calandrini sisters couldn't look any more like young Italian models with their olive skin and dark hair. Their milk-chocolate eyes and dark-chocolate hair are the perfect complement to the chocolates that fill their shelves. The duo work w ell as a team and get up early every morning to restock the store and make fresh decorations for the day.
The quaint shop stocks an array of hard candies in every flavor. Down the entire left-hand side of the shop are individually wrapped chocolate, hazelnut or coffee-flavored hard candies mixed in with fruity strawberry, cherry, peach and blueberry, jelly-filled candies. Opposite the hard and gummy candies are luscious chocolates, mostly from Perugia, the home of Italy's largest chocolate factory and exporter.
Caramel and cream-filled individually wrapped chocolates fill the entire right side of the store. Special chocolates imported from Sicily are made with pistachio nuts, and other chocolates are filled with hazelnuts or almonds. The owners of Rio Rica import their chocolates and sweets from all around Italy. The sisters said they wouldn't consider getting the merchandise from anywhere else. Milan and Turin make the best candies, Sonia said.
Rio Rica, the only specialty candy store in town, caters to the needs of everyone from small children to older adults. "We make sure everyone leaves our store happy," Laura said. Specialty dark-chocolate umbrellas and sugarcoated chocolate lollipops are the favorites among the schoolchildren. The store's older customers prefer milk chocolate truffles or gooey caramels. Sonia has her favorites, too. "Everything," she answered with a smile.
The store not only provides some of the most delicious treats in Cagli, but it also makes it easy to share those treats with friends and family. Rio Rica is known for its creative packaging and gift-wrap, whether it is in the form of chocolate malt eggs stuffed inside a fuzzy chick or Italian hard candies in decorative wooden boxes. "Each gift is special," said Sonia. The biggest gift seasons are around major religious holidays. Christmas and Easter are the busiest holidays for buying candy, and the Calandrini sisters make sure that their wooden containers and glass candy bins are filled to the brim for their sugar-seeking customers.
Everyday gifts for  a girlfriend, a wife or a family member also get the special Calandrini touch. Husbands and boyfriends often come in, pick up a small straw basket and fill it with a custom blend of whatever candies or chocolate they think their loved ones will treasure. Sonia and Laura are experts and pick out the perfect matches of fruity hard candies or nutty chocolates. After the candy is collected, weighed and sealed in a plastic bag, either Sonia or Laura goes to work making the candy extra special. "I love being creative with each gift," Sonia said. A tiny room by the front door houses an array of bags, ribbons, fabric flowers and homemade decorations in a rainbow of colors in which the candy can be wrapped. A pink cheesecloth bag in a clear cellophane bag wrapped in yellow and pink ribbons with an added fabric sunflower makes the perfect chocolaty treat even better. Turquoise and lime green or orange and red packages are customer favorites.
Young or old, sweet tooth or strong espresso lover, it's difficult to walk out of Rio Rica empty handed whether it be with a specialty gift package for someone special or just a small treat to enjoy on a sunny afternoon. |
