A common belief is that Marco Polo brought ice cream back to Italy from his adventures in China. However just like the story of his introduction of pasta to Italy, there are problems with the story. It is generally assumed that either China or ancient Persia were among the first cultures that developed a dessert made from fruit and either shaved ice or mountain snow. However similar discoveries must have been made by numerous cultures that had access to ice and something sweet to add to it. Evidence does suggest that it was in fact China that made the first so-called Ice Cream, using rock salt to increase the hardness of the dessert. The first ice creams resembled more sorbet or Italian ice than ice cream as there was no milk or cream used. Roman Emperors were known to have enjoyed these types of desserts centuries before Marco Polo. The great explorer may not have introduced ice cream, but Italy does play an important role in introducing frozen desserts including ice cream, to Europe.

 

 

Gelato can be linked to so many sources that to cover all of them would be impossible. Therefore we will credit the invention of this “sweet guilt” to every contributor from the Far East to the farthest West. We know that Gelato was created in Italy in the far North by the people of Dolomite, and in the far South by Sicilians.

In Dolomite the Gelato was made with milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and natural flavors. Snow was stored in a deep cantina (basement) during the winter. The sale of Gelato was one of the major sources of income for the locals when folks were traveling through the Dolomite mountains during the warm months. During this period Gelato was considered to be a rich-man’s dessert and few people could afford it. And, as a result of reduced travel in Dolomite during the winter, income was not sufficient for Gelato Artisans to support their families. So they a made seasonal migration to Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France to sell Gelato. Consequently, through many decades Italians were dominant in the business of milk-based Gelato in the Northern regions and neighboring countries.

In the far South, Gelato was lower in fat, predominantly water-based, slightly higher in sugar content and was called Sorbetto, known today as Sorbet. Similar conditions to the Dolomite region were used in the South, especially in Sicily where underground storage rooms, some as deep as 30 meters (more than 90 feet) were used to store compacted snow. Likewise, Sicilian Gelato Artisans would travel to the neighboring countries to sell their wonderful dessert.  

(source:sirenagelato.com)