Italians are expecting the opening of their country’s firstice cream museum, but forget any ideas that gelato, as it’s called here, isfrozen in the past. A new wave of iconoclastic ice cream makers is revolutionisingthe scene in Rome with flavors such as gorgonzola, mushroom and lobster withvodka. "There are no limits," says Claudio Torce as he hands over ascoop of habanero chili-flavored gelato at the headquarters of his ice creamstore company in the modernist EUR neighborhood in the south of the city.
At the launch of his eighth outlet in Rome this month, icecream was served with a selection of savory antipasti: spicy salami with pearsalad accompanied by scoops of gelato flavored with celery, parmigiano andthose picante habanero peppers. At a new museum, due to open in Anzola Emilia,near Bologna this fall, exhibits will include a recipe for black truffle gelatodating from 1808.
Established by Carpigiani, a company that manufactures icecream machines, the museum will trace the history of the cold stuff from thedays when teams of runners delivered mountain snow for chilling wine at ancientMesopotamian banquets. The Italian architect Bernardo Buontalenti is creditedwith inventing modern gelato during the Renaissance by adding cream and eggs totraditional water-ices.
Italian media have also reported on a growing fashion forice cream for dogs ” an idea that originated in Atlanta but is taking off here” and on gelato as an antidote to the economic crisis. Demand for gelato iseven healthier this year despite Italy’s slide into recession. The Italian icecream makers' association says sales this spring were up seven percent on lastyear.
"Ice cream doesn't cost much,” Torce says, “but for twoeuros, you can get five minutes of joy, so things are going well despite thecrisis.” Despite all the bright news for their ice cream, however, Italianswere disappointed by at least one development: this year's gelato festival inFlorence, which some consider the world championship, was won by a Canadian. JamesColeridge from the Bella Gelateria in Vancouver scooped the top prize with arecipe for pecan and maple syrup ice.
