According to the website, Wake up to Nutella, there was very little chocolate because cocoa was in short supply due to WWII rationing. So Pietro mixed the little chocolate he had with hazelnuts, which are plentiful in Piedmont (northwest region of Italy).
According to the Guinness World Records, the chocolate-hazelnut spread earned the title of Largest Continental Breakfast during its 40th Anniversary breakfast celebration in Germany in 2005.
The chocolate spread could be so addictive that Nutella-related crimes increased. According to Mental Floss, in 2013, the chocolate-hazelnut spread made headlines in Germany, where thieves pulled off a $20,000 heist, stealing 5.5 metric tons of the spread from a parked truck.
