Page 86 - #55 English

Ice Cream

Giancarlo Timballo

President of the Gelato World Cup

President of the Cogel-Fipe association and organiser of My desire and my curiosity helped me to grow profes-
the Gelato World Championships for the past decade, Giancarlo sionally and become a gelato craftsman: I had never been one
Timballo expresses his passion for gelato in the Gelateria Fior- just to settle for mixing up any old ingredients without a proper
dilatte gelato parlour in Udine, where he makes his innovative understanding, so I began to study books and go on professional
gourmet gelatos. training courses. Also, at that time, Italy had the best trainers,
who instilled the passion for gelato in me and fuelled my desire
to grow from a professional point of view.

What makes your gelato parlour so special?
My gelato parlour is called Fiordilatte. I chose the name
when I started up the business in honour of a historic gelato
parlour in Udine, run by two sisters from the nearby Zoldo moun-
tains, who used to make such a superb fiordilatte gelato, that even
40 years later many of my fellow inhabitants of Udine have fond
memories of it.
Gelateria Fiordilatte is in Via Cividale, a busy street con-
necting Udine city centre with the suburbs. It is a typical take-
away gelato parlour, which produces over 30 hand-made gelato
flavours, and lots of frozen desserts and gelato cakes.
In the gelato parlour, along with my wife and me, there
are 4 permanent staff and 4/5 seasonal employees who work
from March to September.

Where did the idea of a savoury hand-made gelato come from?
For this important step in my training, I am deeply in-
debted to Angelo Corvitto, a great Spanish master craftsman of
Italian descent, who taught me this new technique for making
gourmet gelato. The technique is based on using a few specific
sugars as an alternative to sucrose, which make classical hand-
made gelato less sweet, while still maintaining its original balance.
The key moment in making gourmet gelato was meeting
great cooks who share this same passion for gelato, as an ingredi-
ent to use for cooking and for haute cuisine. Indeed, there is a
close connection between gastronomy and gelato, as gelato was
invented in the great kitchens of enlightened chefs in the Renais-
sance period. And we gelato craftsmen are children of that great
era, when many of the jobs and products that we proudly call
Made in Italy were first invented.
Today, our goal is to get back in contact with great
cuisine and get back our role as key partners in the world of
gastronomy.

sees theGelato World Championships: are you satisfied with
the results and the success it has achieved so far? What expec-
How and where did you learn your trade as a master gelato tations do you have for the next edition?
craftsman? Personally speaking, I am extremely satisfied with the
Like so many colleagues of mine who started up their work we’ve done in the last 10 years, together with the group
own businesses in the 1980s, I too came from a different back- that has been co-ordinating and organising this important event
ground from hand-made gelato – I used to work with my parents ever since 2003. The event has grown exponentially from one
selling wines and spirits. However, we realised that there was a year to the next, and in 2012 achieved levels of professionalism
profound structural crisis going on at that time in our sector, so I and organisational competency of the highest degree.
found myself in the position of having to reinvent a trade. I was The challenge for the future will be to raise the bar even
30 when I started my career as a gelato craftsman, without know- further and keep up the reputation of Italian hand-made gelato.
ing a thing about gelato. To do so, some important changes have been introduced into
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