An acclaimed Italian chemist dubbed the 'Father of Nutella' for his work on the world-famous Ferrero spread died on Valentine's Day aged 97, his family have shared.

Francesco Rivella, a widowed father of four, will be remembered today at a funeral in his Piedmont hometown, where he worked with Ferrero for more than four decades.

Dr Rivella is credited with helping the Alba-based brand grow into an international sensation, innovating products from its Wonka-esque chocolate 'Chemistry Room'.

 

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I will continue to celebrate him. 😉 

 

 

 

I'll tell you a very sad but 'loving' story about Nutella from a few years ago.  My young Thai niece had TB and HIV, and was fading away fast through lack of eating.  The doctors told me to encourage her to eat, to eat anything at all, especially food with proteins and sugars.  I asked her what she would eat and she replied Nutella 🙂

 

So I went and bought a big pot of Nutella, and tried to feed her some of this.  She indicated that if I eat some of it, then so would she.  So I ate some as she watched and then she ate a very small amount of Nutella.  Hurrah!

 

This went on for days, and she must have eaten all of 1 tablespoon of Nutella and I had eaten almost the whole pot and felt as sick as a pig,  as I tried to encourage her to eat!  Thankfully, she switched to eating a little moo gata instead..... 🙂

Did she survive?

On 2/23/2025 at 8:23 AM, Celsius said:

Did she survive?

No 😞 She died in my arms about 1 week later.  I don't think Nutella or anything could have saved her.  She was 18 years old and weighed 19 Kg.