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It all started with my Executive Chef, a super Head Chef if you will. He came to me with a new dessert menu for the restaurant, something I have never even tried was the very bottom dessert selection for the fine dining experience depicted by our menu. It was a horrible word at first. It rang in my ears, Gelato.

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Gelato now has its official home. It is located in Anzola dell'Emilia, just outside of Bologna, at the Gelato Museum Carpigiani: 1,000 square meters dedicated to the history, culture, and technology of gelato. Inaugurated in September 2012, it recently made Zagat's list of the seven coolest new museums in the world and can already boast 11,000 visitors since its opening.

"The museum was built to provide a home for gelato because it is only fair that this product should be given its dignity" says Valentina Righi, the vice-president of the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation, the organization behind the Gelato Museum, and a passionate expert on everything gelato. "Our mission is to promote the culture of artisan gelato around the world." A culture where the Italians excel, after developing and perfecting the art of gelato over the centuries. Today, Italy is the country with the biggest number of gelaterie, 37,000, and the biggest market for artisan gelato - Germany, the second country for production of artisan gelato, has around 8,000 gelato parlors, while Argentina, ranking third, has 3,000. "It took centuries to get to the sublime perfection of this product," Luciana Polliotti, the museum's curator, explains. "The museum is important because it gives a cultural identity to gelatieri and to everybody who loves gelato. It allows both experts of the trade and the general public to discover how such a fine food could be conceived, cultivated and developed."

The museum's goal is to make visitors aware of what it took to get to this "sublime perfection", through an interactive tour highlighting three main themes: the evolution of gelato over time, the history of production technology, and the places and ways it is consumed. It includes original machines, multimedia presentations, historical images and documents, precious tools and accessories of the trade, and original video interviews.
The origins of gelato
The origins of gelato go back 12,000 years when, in Mesopotamia, slave runners traveled up to 100 kilometers to collect ice and snow used to cool drinks served during royal banquets and religious ceremonies. During the 11th century, the Arabs developed shrb, "sugar syrup", a base for making fruit sorbets, medical herbs, spices and flowers. Shrb was the predecessor of sorbet, which became very popular in Sicily when it was under Arab rule; the Arabs grew in fact as many as 400 different types of flowers to flavor their sorbets.
The modern history of gelato
The "modern" history of gelato begins in the Renaissance with alchemist Cosimo Ruggieri, who is credited with creating the first gelato flavor at the court of the Medici family in Florence, the fior di latte. The architect Bernardo Buontalenti seems to have invented the egg cream gelato ( gelato alla crema d'uovo); Francesco Redi and Lorenzo Magalotti made gelato famous by singing its praises and describing its ingredients. The Sicilian Francesco Procopio Cutò made gelato available to all when he opened Café Le Procope in Paris in 1686 and started selling it to the public; before then, gelato and sorbets were food for the rich because ice and salt were expensive and, therefore, only served in private residences. In the 19th century, the Neapolitan doctor Filippo Baldini wrote a treatise where he stated that gelato and sorbets are good both for the body and mind.
Gelato in the 20th century
The 20th century marks the birth of the gelato cone and the mechanization of production techniques. It was an American who built the first automatic ice cream machine, Emery Thompson, in 1904, the motorized batch freezer. During the early 1940s, Bruto Carpigiani from Bologna worked on the design of a new gelato machine which would be cleaner, faster and more efficient than the others then available. Today, Carpigiani is one of the biggest producers of gelato-making machines worldwide. From the 1950s on, gelato starts to become a flagship of the Made in Italy, with most innovations taking place here. Thanks to better technology that made gelato safer and easier to produce, gelato makers were able to concentrate on the creative side of their trade, with more and more flavors being invented.
Gelato Tastings and Gelato Chefs
The visit to the Gelato Museum can be aptly concluded with either a "gelato tasting" or the chance to become gelatiere for a day, guided by the instructors of the Carpigiani Gelato University.

And now, enjoy A Taste of Gelato History!

To plan your visit to the Gelato Museum, visit http://gelatomuseum.com/en/

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Gelato now has its official home. It is located in Anzola dell'Emilia, just outside of Bologna, at the Gelato Museum Carpigiani: 1,000 square meters dedicated to the history, culture, and technology of gelato. Inaugurated in September 2012, it recently made Zagat's list of the seven coolest new museums in the world and can already boast 11,000 visitors since its opening.

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Florence, Italy. Home of Gelato and creator Bernardo Buontalenti

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Florence, Italy. Home of Gelato and creator Bernardo Buontalenti

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Italy is home to many wonderful desserts and frozen confections like sorbetto and granita, but gelato raises the art of the icy treat to an art form celebrated not only in Italy now but around the world.

Over three thousand years ago gelato got its start when people in ancient Rome would gather snow and ice from the mountains to combine with fruit or other flavouring to make a delicious frosty dessert. Gelato as we know it today became the specialty of artisans in northern Italy in the 1920s and 1930s. The city of Varese near Milan claims to be the site of the first gelato cart and today there are thousands of gelaterie across Italy where gelato is carefully crafted by hand using fresh ingredients.

There are thousands of gelato vendors who carry on this Italian tradition faithfully in Canada, the United States and other countries with vibrant Italian communities.

Not just Italian for ice cream

The word gelato is derived from the Latin word gelātus, which means frozen. While gelato has similar ingredients to North American ice cream - milk or cream, sugar, and fruit, cocoa or nuts - it is very different in texture and flavour intensity for two reasons: Ice cream has more fat and more air whipped into it. The lower fat content in gelato enhances the intensity of the flavouring while less air (gelato is churned more slowly than ice cream) makes gelato more dense. Additionally gelato is stored and served at a slightly warmer temperature so it's softer and not completely frozen.

Newly opened gelato museum

In the fall of 2012 the Carpigiani Gelato Museum opened in Bologna-just an hour away from Florence-with a self-described dedication to understanding everything about gelato from its history and culture to the technology used to create it and those who have created it. The museum, which is open by reservation only from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, boasts more than 20 historic gelato machines, multimedia presentations, over 10,000 historical images and documents and workshops. If you love gelato and are in Florence this might be a must-see destination to add to your itinerary.
Flavours to contemplate
Traditionally gelato has been handmade using the finest of ingredients, with the most popular flavours including custard cream, vanilla, and chocolate (milk, dark and white). It's not surprising that many other popular flavours use ingredients from local areas, such as hazelnuts from the Piemonte and Regina regions, pistachio nuts from Sicily, and fresh lemons and berries like those from the coastal areas of Florence.

Modern gelaterie also serve hundreds of new and interesting flavours including the ever-popular sugary-espresso combination of Tiramisu, Amarena cherries (native to Italy), and a rich Zabajone gelato made like the traditional dessert with eggs, sugar, and Marsala wine. You may also find a delicious vanilla gelato with crunchy milk or dark chocolate pieces on top called Stracciatella.
Gelato recipes
It's unlikely that you can come close to making a gelato to rival that of the masters at any celebrated gelaterie at home, but you can have fun trying and enjoy the results until you can buy some real gelato. There are many recipes available to make it at home, but this article and the recipes by The Italian Dish blogger from Michigan named Elaine McCardel (her mother was from Italy) are very informative and easy to follow with what you find in most North American kitchens.

Where do you find the best gelato?

It's been said you'll find the best gelato in Florence or Milan. Do you agree? Or do you have a favourite gelaterie where you live? Let us know which flavours and gelato shops you recommend and why.

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Italy is home to many wonderful desserts and frozen confections like sorbetto and granita, but gelato raises the art of the icy treat to an art form celebrated not only in Italy now but around the world.

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Visibilio Gelato, the continuous churning system

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Blueberry Coconut milk, and milk crumb Gelato Pie

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Blueberry Coconut milk, and milk crumb Gelato Pie

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One of my own creations

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At my work I use my own recipes and flavor combinations. However, it is a secret recipe.

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Gelato made easy! Check out Food Network's most popular gelato recipes to round out your recipe box.

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Interesting Fact: There is an entire University dedicated to the creatio and teaching of Gelato.

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Interesting Fact: There is an entire University dedicated to the creatio and teaching of Gelato.

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The world's leading training center for successful Artisan Gelato entrepreneurs. It is a cultural project that aims to sustain the development of gelato business and to educate the consumers on characteristics of a high-quality genuine Italian artisan gelato.
Carpigiani Gelato University offers courses in over 10 countries. The US campus is located in Winston Salem, NC.

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The world's leading training center for successful Artisan Gelato entrepreneurs. It is a cultural project that aims to sustain the development of gelato business and to educate the consumers on characteristics of a high-quality genuine Italian artisan gelato. Carpigiani Gelato University offers courses in over 10 countries.

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Chocolate and cheesecake Gelato

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One of my own creations.

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Le Procope, Paris -- A Place of Rendezvous Through History

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One of my own creations.