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I Story / Angela Eyla Cassisi

The

Geopolitics

of Gelato

T he history of ice cream is shrouded in a fog of delicious frozen gift sent from the gods, what we refer to as ice
Surprisingly, the refrigeration and production of the
debate and mystery, as is often the case with
things that develop in different countries and
from the Andes to Anatolia, and even passing through ancient
cultures independently from one another but at cream, was never an Italian monopoly: from Egypt to Japan,
similar times in history. Rome, variations of ice-cream had existed for millennia and
Legend has it that around 1559, in the Italian city of had been mastered by many different cultures around the world.
Florence, a man by the name of Bernardo Buontalenti cre- A lot of big countries can claim large numbers on
ated the first ever ice-cream in preparation for an official pretty much anything, but as far as the cult of ice cream
visit from the Spanish King Charles V to the Medici Courts. is concerned, they surely have some competition: Italy.
Though this was surely a luxurious entry into the world Just to give you a general idea: out of the 60 thousand ice
for ice cream, it still had a long road ahead before becoming cream shops operating in Europe in 2016, 39 thousand of
a real gastronomic institution. them are in Italy.

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