Claudio Corallo (born 1951) is an Italian businessman and an

agricultural engineer Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical enginee ...

. He resides in São Tomé and Príncipe. He created the chocolate and coffee refinery called "Claudio Corallo Cacao and Coffee".

Early life

Corallo was born in the city of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy. He trained as an agricultural engineer in 1974 at the Instituto Agronómico para o Ultramar (Institute for Overseas Agronomy).

Career

He worked as a diver for a dredging company in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

and later for an Italian consulting company. In 1974, he went to what was now the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC); the government of Mobutu Sese Seko contracted him as an investigator and he offered technical assistance with small rural producers. He later bought 1,250 hectares of coffee plantations in the Lomela region. The region was difficult to access from Kinshasa, capital of today's DRC, using the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

as the only means of access. Claudio used a canoe that took two weeks to reach Lomela, but planned to build a boat, which he named the DB,1 to reduce travel time. With political changes in

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

, he was forced to leave the country. In December 1992, he moved to São Tomé and Príncipe where he started to cultivate cocoa, which was already under cultivation in the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

. Research about the varieties of cocoa, including its productions in Bolivia, confirmed that cocoa in São Tomé and Príncipe had a different quality. Through various tests he found that the bitterness was caused by processing failures, moisture storage and the country's equatorial heat. Different forms of tests of fermentation for a new cocoa paste were developed and he built a lab for roasting, peeling and rinding. He then bought an abandoned cocoa plantation of in Terreiro Velho (Old Farm) next to Novo Estrela on the island of

Príncipe Príncipe is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Census;

. He produced a product with high quality that was considered the world's best chocolate. He controlled the production process from tree to table. Corallo discovered that the island of

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álvar ...

was able to produce coffee of high quality. He proceeded to buy property in Nova Moca southwest of

Monte Café Monte may refer to: Places Argentina * Argentine Monte, an ecoregion * Monte Desert * Monte Partido, a ''partido'' in Buenos Aires Province Italy * Monte Bregagno * Monte Cassino * Montecorvino (disambiguation) * Montefalcione Portugal * Mont ...

, the coffee-producing area. He developed its coffee and chocolate crop and built a refined

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

industry, Claudio Corallo Cacao e Coffee. Corallo taught classes in agrarian science courses at the Higher Polytechnic Institute (Instituto Superior Politécnico de São Tomé e Príncipe (ISP)) which became a campus of the

University of São Tomé and Príncipe The University of São Tomé and Príncipe ( pt, Universidade de São Tomé e Príncipe), USTP, is a public institution of higher education in São Tomé and Príncipe.

(USTP) and at the (Centro de Aperfeiçoamento Técnico Agropecuário (CATAP)) (now the Center for Studies for Development, also a campus of the university.)

Notes

External links

Official website of Claudio Corallo Cacao e Coffee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corallo Claudio 1951 births Living people Businesspeople from Florence Italian engineers Italian emigrants to São Tomé and Príncipe