Deep in the earth, north of the Chocolate mines of Perugia and under the hazelnut forests of Umbria an amazing phenomenon occurs. The volcanic heat melts a seam of the chocolate; forces beyond our grasp press it upward through the deep roots of the hazelnut forest. The chocolate is forced onward perhaps through natural fissures, perhaps through channels created long ago by the Romans, the Etruscans or the gods themselves. No one knows. Finally high above Gubbio at a secret place known only to a few the substance now known as Nutella rises to the surface.

High above Gubbio in Umbria

It seeps slowly out of seemingly solid rocks. It is so pure that it needs no processing. It is gathered and placed in jars (or in those handy single serving packages) and shipped throughout the world. A food so sweet that honey bees stay away from it, so smooth that it spreads evenly anywhere and so supernatural that it never requires refrigeration.

The spring, now called Nutella, was first discovered by the Roman General Sweetius in 45AD and named “Fons Nutellium Sweetius.” Which translates as the spring of nutty stuff discovered by Sweetius. There is evidence, sticky pottery chards etc, that the Nutellium was sold in Rome and as far away as Pompeii.

Knowledge of the spring was lost in 450AD when the Vandals sacked Rome. It was not rediscovered permanently until the 20th century although there are some stains that might be chocolate on the page that Michelangelo wrote about a substance from Umbria that is “sweeter than honey”. In 1945 a young American soldier of Italian descent, Claude Cavoli, was patrolling the hills above Gubbio when he slipped on a seep of a brown substance. Suspecting the worst he sniffed his finger and was pleasantly surprised. He returned to the spring a few days later and discovered the ancient Roman inscription on a stone in a pile of rubble nearby: “Nutellium.”

Roman inscription discovered at the spring.

The rest, of course, is common knowledge. Within a few years the Italian national flavor was reintroduced to the world and the world is a sweeter place.

Here are a few comparisons to other liquids we purchase. The unit price has been converted into cost per gallon:

* Diet Snapple 16oz $1.29 $10.32/gallon

* Lipton Ice tea 16oz $1.19 $9.52/gallon

* Garorade 20oz $1.59 $10.17/gallon

* Vick’s Nyquil 6oz $8.35 $178.13/gallon

* Scope 1.5oz $0.99 $84.48/gallon

* Whiteout 7oz $1.39 $25.43/gallon

*Evian Water 9oz $1.49 $21.19/gallon

I guess gasoline doesn’t cost so much when you think about it.

Thanks to John Fredrickson a terrific Pasadena Real Estate Broker for compiling the above information.

We were in Italy when the World Cup started and so we have been enjoying watching all of the matches. Now even though the USA and Mexico have both been eliminated we are still watching. I’m now for England or Italy.

I think that of all sports, soccer is the best metaphor for life.

• There are very few breaks in the action.
• You have to always be on offense and defense.
• Most of what you try doesn’t work.
• A lot of what goes on is important but boring.

In Italy they set up TV in piazzas so people could watch:

To win in soccer:

• Teamwork is necessary, but so are heroic individual acts.
• Luck counts.
• Lots of the time you know the score, but not how much time there is to play.
• Conditioning is incredibly important.
• It has some silly rules like “off sides” and “hands.”

Just like in life.

Here is a picture of me wearing my 1998 world cup tee shirt:

I have been working a lot on my Radical Migration site Radicalmigration.com and will be getting the separate site for CodgerDivers.com going soon. Note that the pictures on cellphonehenge are done through flickr and are much faster loading than with the old method. Progress is being made. Thanks to my web dude Matt Geldin for patiently teaching me how build my site.