Gelato del Borgo Ice cream, natural flavours and conviviality

Ice cream, natural flavours and conviviality

Gelato del Borgo is a new concept for an ice cream shop based on using all natural and exclusively locally produced ingredients. It is a joyful place that also offers coffees, drinks and pastries for the whole day, always having one main character, ice cream. This can be tasted with coffee, with refreshing drinks, in cocktails and also in special dishes. Everything all natural and locally produced.

It appears that ice cream has its origins in the Islamic medieval world. Indeed, the word “shebert” means “refreshing drink”. The ice cream tradition got from the Arabic States to Sicily, but its real triumph was in the sixteenth century, in Florence, thanks to Ruggeri, one of Caterina dè Medici personal chefs. It was 1570 when the architect Buontalenti created the first ice-houses to maintain snow. He had them built inside a building that gave its name to the nearby road, via delle Ghiacciaie (Ice-houses road), still existent in Florence. Ice cream then spread from Florence to half of Europe’s courts , thanks to Caterina dè Medici, wife of the French King, and her chefs. Considering all the time that the Medicis and the Della Gherardescas spent together and the fact they were also related, it didn’t take long for ice cream to get from Florence to Castagneto. Made with local fresh fruits, the fruit sorbet resfreshed the palats of counts and of peasants, and quenched the thirst of those who walked on the hill on the way to Castagneto.