Baci Perugina swap famous paper love notes with audio messages for Valentine's Day.

Baci Perugina celebrates Valentine's Day by launching a QR code to listen to the romantic messages hidden inside the wrappers of the hazelnut-centred chocolates.

The special edition sweets include 20 different love notes, accessible by a QR code, and for the first time will see Baci Perugina replace their famous paper messages with modern technology.

Titled "Senti l'Amore" - which in Italian means "Feel the love" as well as "Listen to the love" - the audio initiative is integrated into illustrations by by Milan artist Antonio Colomboni.

"This year, we wanted to make you feel the emotions of our Baci with all five senses" - says Chiara Richiedei, marketing manager of Baci Perugina - "With this special edition for Valentine's Day, we want to offer our consumers a new Baci Perugina experience, offering them a new and engaging way to experience and share emotions".

History of Baci love notes

Baci's story began in 1922 when fashion designer and entrepreneur Luisa Spagnoli devised a combination of chopped hazelnuts and melted chocolate to create a creamy filling, topped with a whole toasted hazelnut, and encased in dark chocolate.

Spagnoli christened the new sweet "Cazzotto", meaning "punch" in Italian, as its irregular shape reminded her of the knuckles of a fist.

This didn't sound right to Giovanni Buitoni, the young manager and son of Perugina co-founder Francesco, who softened the name to "Baci", reasoning that people would prefer a kiss to a punch.

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Buitoni and Spagnoli - who was 14 years his senior and was married to one of his father's partners - were secret lovers.

Subsequently the Perugina art director Federico Seneca had the idea of inserting romantic phrases inside the foil-wrapped chocolates.

According to legend, the love notes idea was inspired by the secret handwritten messages, hidden in chocolates, exchanged between Buitoni and Spagnoli.