The Ivano Pocchiesa Award was presented to Michelangelo Corazza. Special awards to young gelato makers Marco Reato and Carolina Da Rold
Longarone, 24 March – It is synonymous with Italian style throughout the world. It is a genuine and healthy product that conveys the territories and their raw materials of excellence. It is the only food product to have a dedicated European Union day, which has been celebrated for 11 years on 24 March.
Today, Longarone Fiere Dolomiti celebrated European Artisan Ice Cream Day with an event within Agrimont, the mountain agriculture fair that will continue until Sunday. And it could not have been otherwise, since it was precisely from Longarone, the home of Made in Italy ice cream, that the race for this recognition started.
“It was the year 2008. Talking with the president of the Fair at the time, Giovanni De Lorenzi, we came up with this idea,’ recalled Paolo Garna, Mig’s historic director, who traced the long path of ice cream among the European institutions. From the first ‘candidature’ presented to the European Parliament on 24 March 2009, to the presentation in Strasbourg in 2012, which earned a dedicated day in the calendar. “It was the ice cream tasting that allowed us to collect the signatures of MEPs,” said Garna. “And it is even more satisfying to remember it today, because it means that the product of our ice cream makers is really something special. The European Day is not meant to be a celebration, but the recognition of the quality of a product, and the valorisation of a foodstuff that is strongly linked to the territory, identity and bearer of values’.
Historical values, recently collected by the museum project of the Val di Zoldo ice-cream makers. But values that are also economic, since behind an ice cream cone lies a real business, capable of ‘creating GDP’.
The next step, after the European Day, could be that of Unesco recognition for the work of the artisan ice-cream maker. A project that is being pursued by Giancarlo Timballo, president of the Gelato World Cup. “We have started the path, which sees us collaborating with Longarone Fiere Dolomiti and Mig,” he explained today during the event at Agrimont. “By now the tradition of our master ice-cream makers is known and consolidated all over the world, so much so that the term ice-cream is outdated in favour of gelato, or Italian ice cream. Let us proceed confidently with this, which would be a further recognition of excellence’.
POCCHIESA AWARD
During the European Day, the Ivano Pocchiesa Prize, organised by Longarone Fiere Dolomiti and Associazione Bellunesi nel Mondo, was presented. This year’s prize went to Michelangelo Corazza, an ice cream maker and writer, active for decades in Vienna with his business and author of 42 books, many of which are dedicated to the world of artisan ice cream (the latest is entitled ‘Gelato and ice cream makers in Valle di Zoldo and Zoppè di Cadore’).
Special recognition also went to young ice cream makers Marco areato and Carolina Da Rold, for having brought Belluno ice cream to the last Italian Song Festival, thanks to their participation in Casa Sanremo.
THE PEARLS
The European Day was preceded yesterday by a conference in Venice (at the historic Ca’ Sagredo hotel) organised by Longarone Fiere and the Belluno-Treviso Chamber of Commerce. During the event, parchments were handed out to historical and innovative gelato parlours in the Veneto region.
Here are the winners for the category ‘Historical ice-cream parlours’, divided by province:
Venice – l’Arte di Mauro of Mauro Crivellaro and Silvia Bianco, from Mirano (20 years); Sall of Luca a Rossi and Maicol De Rossi, from Burano (24 years); Gelato Fantasy of Lucio and Claudia Carolo, and Melissa Bonomi, from Venice (25 years); Icebar of Daniele Foltran and Perolina Fabiana Gomes Da Silva, from Mestre (30 years); Gelateria Gardenia, of Enrico Ribon and Debora Liviero, from Mirano (36 years).
Padua – Barbara Luvison’s Gelateria Barbara Luvison, of Loreggia (25 years old); Carmela Matterazz’s La boutique del gelato, of Padua (25 years old); Angelino Panciera’s Gelateria Panciera, of Padua (26 years old); Donatella Marinello and Roberto Pegoraro’s Gelateria Amica, of Piove di Sacco (27 years old); Giovanni and Sarah Sirignano’s Eisstreet, of Abano Terme (28 years old); Stefano Sartoretto’s Gelateria Il quadrifoglio, of Padua (31 years old); Gelateria Dolce Freddo of Alberto Gobbi, of Montagnana (36 years); Gelateria delle Terme of Gian Pietro and Andrea Bano, of Abano Terme (43 years); Gelateria Bijou of Girolamo Zambon, Chiara and Maria Grazia Grossa, of Abano Terme (44 years); Gelateria Vaniglia Cioccolato of Giuseppe Schizzerotto and Marilena Rizzato, of Este (74 years); Gelateria Marisa of Luca Cantarin, of Padua (112 years).
Belluno – Gelateria Gimmy owned by Andrea Reato and Gianna Marilisa Trevisan, from Feltre (23 years); Il Gelato owned by Manuel De Bona, from Belluno (33 years); Gelateria Al Soler owned by Giuliana De Fanti, Wally Baldon and Ilenia Lazzarini, from Zoldo (35 years); Dolomiti la Gelateria owned by Luigi Paolo Corazza, from Belluno (43 years).
Here are the award-winners for innovative gelato parlours:
Padua – Gelateria Da Carlo by Giancarlo Pizzo and Ivana Benaja, of Monselice (opened in 2020); Gelateria Gianni by Erion Kaso, Kasu Zeraldo and Elisa Lazzaretto, of Padua (opened in 2013); Cuor di Gelato by Ketti and Jessica Sinigaglia, of Padua (opened in 2012); Ciokkolatte by Guido Zandonà, of Padua (opened in 2011); Golosi di natura by Antonio Mezzalira, of Padua (opened in 2006).
Venice – Mivè Gelateria owned by Peiman Charkhandaz and Alice Coldebella, from Mestre (opened in 2013); Gelateria per passione owned by Kirsten Van Lanker and Sabiha Simionata, from Spinea (opened in 2012); Gelateria Chocolat La bottega del gusto owned by Simone Fava and Marina Bulakh, from Mirano (opened in 2009); Icedelfino owned by Guido and Letizia Chenet, and Chiara Bonaventura, from Caorle (opened in 2009); Gelato! Di Matteo Casarotto and Eva Enzo, from Jesolo (opened in 2007); Bottega del gelato di Alberto De Stales and Davide Saviane, from Quarto d’Altino (opened in 2004).
Verona – Gelateria Venice di Leonardo Biasio and Giancarlo Pizzo, of Villafranca (opened in 2022).
