Started by his father, the Slitti family business has always been famous in Italy for coffee roasting since 1969 and began incorporating chocolate made by Mr Slitti in 1988.

Since he began producing chocolate, Mr Slitti has won more than 16 prestigious international and European competitions including Best Italian Chocolate Maker in 2008 and a gold medal at the Olympic Cookery games in 1996.

So protective of the quality and process of making his products, Mr Slitti shut his factory in Tuscany while he visited Australia.

Owner of the only Slitti coffee and chocolate shop in Australia, Marco Dabizzi is from the same part of Tuscany as the Slitti family and said when he moved to Port Fairy in 2008, he wanted to bring the taste of home with him.

"We met Andrea before we came to Australia, we wanted to bring a little bit of Italy here with us," Mr Dabizzi said.

"He's considered a very important figure in Italy and throughout Europe by lovers of chocolate.

"Andrea does the whole process, from buying the best cocoa beans in central America all the way through. He is one of the few who do the whole process."

While in Port Fairy, Mr Slitti hosted a special chocolate tasting event and met with customers in the cafe.

"Having him come to Port Fairy was very good," Mr Dabizzi said.

"He came especially to see the shop and meet some of the customers."

Mr Slitti returned to Italy yesterday, but Mr Dabizzi said he hoped the chocolatier would make more visits to the

region in the future.