With salt in the air and ships dancing on the horizon, Monaco is preparing for something sweet, splendid, and surprisingly profound. CHOKOLASHOW® 2025 is not your usual gala, it’s a fusion of art, chocolate, charity, and the endless blue.
From Block to Brushstroke: Artists at Sea
On 15 September, eight international artists received something extraordinary: a framed cocoa-paste base (70 × 50 cm) and a randomly drawn nautical symbol, anchors, mermaids, lighthouses, waves, or charts. Their mission? To translate that raw chocolate canvas into profound works of art, told through the language of the sea.
The chosen names evoke diverse styles and stories. Toni Belfatto, known for his dermopigmentation work, brings emotional texture, seeking to evoke healing through form and symbol. Luca Bestetti, a disciple of metaphysical painter De Chirico, shaping shadows and surreal tension. Ilham El Jadaoui, who often melds precious materials into her work and Monica Di Rocco, Fabienne Henry, Patrizia A. Salles, Manou (Emanuela Vavassori), and Patrick Bibal are rounding out the international lineup.
Over ten charged, creative days, they’ll wrestle with texture, symbolism, and how best to let cacao tell a tale. The canvases emerge from obscurity on 25 September, exhibited publicly and subject to a public vote.
The Nautical World as Metaphor
This year’s theme, “The Nautical World”, is more than aesthetic, it’s metaphorical. Ships crossing storms, waves rising, beacons that guide, lighthouses that warn… the sea is unpredictable, vast, sometimes terrible, always sublime. Artists are being asked not only to depict it, but to evoke the human condition through it: vulnerability, hope, rescue, journey.
Where Generosity Meets Show
CHOKOLASHOW® is a tapestry of events including the exhibition at Wannenes Art Contact: Sept 25 → Oct 10. A chance for collectors, passers-by and art lovers to walk among these chocolate creations. Then comes the CHOKOLASHOW® Village at Hôtel Méridien Beach Plaza (13-14 October), featuring tastings, stands, children’s workshops and a preview of the artworks. Free entry.
The crescendo is on 14 October with cocktails, a gourmet dinner, and the charity auction night in the presence of Prince Albert II. All proceeds go to eight selected charities.
Who Gains, Who Gives
The beneficiaries are local charities whose work reflects compassion, protection, and hope: Action Innocence, Fight Aids Monaco, the Flavien Foundation, Les Enfants de Frankie, Eugenio Benedetti Gaglio Charitable Association, SPA Monaco (animal protection), Enfance et Cancer (Children & Cancer), and AVIP (aid to victims and vulnerable people).
And there is continuity as Valentina Trassy, winner of 2024, designs this year’s trophy. And Marcos Marin will unveil next year’s (2026) theme during the 14 October gala.
CHOKOLASHOW® reminds us that art can be ephemeral.As chocolate melts, ages change with deep resonance. It bridges sensory worlds, taste, sight, smell, with moral purpose. It connects locals and visitors alike, everyone can vote, tour, taste and give. Finally it holds a mirror as the nautical motifs are universal. We’re all navigating storms and seeking lighthouses.
As autumn slips in over our paradisical coast CHOKOLASHOW® 2025 promises a feast for the senses.
