A date to mark on the calendar for those with a sweet tooth for homemade ice cream: March 24 throughout Italy and throughout Europe Gelato Day is celebrated, the only European day dedicated to a food, the fruit of artisan knowledge, which has always been an expression of quality, authenticity and territoriality. Europe therefore agrees, for once in a while, on the valorisation of this product, a true heritage of all gelato makers and the entire supply chain, which, only in Europe, employs 300 employees for a turnover of over 9 billion euros.
The day, supported by ACOMAG, Confartigianato, SIGEP of the Italian Exhibition Group and UIF - Unione Italiana Food, will be celebrated simultaneously in all European countries, even if master gelato makers can choose to extend the celebrations to other days as well.
Peculiarity of the “Gelato Day” is the “Taste of the Year” which, for this seventh edition, is dedicated to Italy and is the Tiramisu. Mascarpone ice cream with coffee, ladyfingers and cocoa, will be proposed in the ice cream parlors of numerous Italian and European cities who are already preparing to honor one of the most popular products ever.
In Italy, it will be possible to enjoy a taste of Gelato Day already on 9 and 10 March in Valdobbiadene, at the Antica Fiera di San Gregorio: the municipality of the city, in collaboration with Longarone Fiere, gelateriedelterritorio and Cantina Produttori di Valdobbiadene, will host the Prosecco Superiore ice cream competition, delicacy capable of uniting two excellences of the Veneto region.
On Sunday 24 March Confartigianato Gelatieri will enliven Gelato Day throughout Italy with ad hoc stands, celebratory events and tastings. Not only that: with the involvement of local ice cream makers, funds will be raised for charity and gift vouchers will be distributed in schools to give children a healthy and delicious snack based on homemade tiramisu-flavored ice cream.
For ski lovers who would not give up ice cream even on the slopes, however, the appointment is in Val di Zoldo (BL). With the event “Sweet Skiing”, the Val di Zoldo cable cars, in collaboration with Longarone Fiere and Uniteis.eV, will give away a day ski pass to all skiers who present themselves with a receipt from an ice cream parlor dated 2019. Furthermore, from 11 to 13, on the ski slopes it will be offered the ice cream made with the old salt and ice machines.
Also on Sunday 24 March, Longarone Fiere in Venice, in collaboration with the Veneto Region, is dedicating a conference open to the public to the European world of artisan gelato, to explore, in particular, the important impact of this extraordinary product on employment and on the general economy. Among the topics coveredArtisan ice cream as a development engine for local economies” and “SMEs backbone of the European economy”, with the intervention of Giacomo Mattinò, DG GROWT – European Commission. To close the proceedings, a tasting of Tiramisu ice cream.
In the rest of Europe, ice cream lovers will be able to join the celebrations by ordering a tiramisu ice cream which will be specially prepared on March 24 in the thousands of participating ice cream parlors and by participating in the many initiatives organized in the countries of the Old Continent. In Germany, for example, an advance of Gelato Day will already take place from 6 to 10 March in Berlin at the ITB Berlin, one of the most important tourism fairs in the world. On 2 June, the Italian Consulate a Cologne will celebrate Republic Day with a cup of tiramisu ice cream. And the very Italian taste will be offered for tasting by a representation of German ice cream makers on the occasion of burgerfest, the opening to the public of Palazzo Bellevue, residence of the German President (August 30 and 31, Berlin). And even the English neighbors, Brexit or non-Brexit, will be able to enjoy a cone of homemade ice cream and discover all its secrets from 4 to 6 November, during the 40th World Travel Market.
Returning to Italy, Gelato Day continues on March 30 and 31 in Naples, supporting research. The Campani Gelatieri Committee will participate in the event “Running for research: a great effort”, donating the entire proceeds to the Foundation Telethon for research on rare genetic diseases. Furthermore, the Committee will offer a tasting of tiramisu ice cream and will promote the culture of artisan ice cream within the Telethon Village set up in Piazza del Plebiscito.
Even in Novara, Gelato Day does good with Cold dessert for the disabled, an event that on May 19 will dedicate tastings and demonstrations with the old salt and ice cream machines to people with disabilities.
The 6th edition of "Gelato in Festa" will return to Longarone on 7 and 11 July, with an entire tasting station dedicated to tiramisu gelato and the European Artisan Gelato Day, conducted by Thomas Infanti, very young winner of the Gelato Tiramisù Italian Cup held in the latest edition of MIG Longarone.
On the other hand, the "Gelato Day Cortina Dolomites”, organized by Longarone Fiere Dolomiti, in collaboration with the Cortina and Tofana – Freccia nel Cielo Hoteliers Association, which will offer two important moments to make the European Artisanal Gelato Day known also to the international public visiting Cortina d'Ampezzo: the morning on the of the Tofana di Mezzo at 3.244 m, the third highest mountain in the Dolomites, the artisanal ice cream prepared by the MIG ice cream makers will be distributed, while in the afternoon under the Conchiglia in Piazza A. Di Bona the party will continue with the ice cream and cones made with ancient.
And Gelato Day doesn't stop even after the summer with the initiative "Put an ice cream at dinner" which, in October in Capri and in November in Erice (TP), it will test the skills of the students of the Campania and Sicilian hotel institutes and will allow them to taste an excellent ice cream, obviously with a tiramisu flavour.
