Ice cream is an all-Italian passion, a story made of tradition and creative genius. But above all the testament to an inexhaustible ability to enjoy life!

While I watch chef Monfrinotti preparing a delicious gianduia ice cream, I can already feel my mouth water and anticipate that moment (I know it will come soon ...) in which I will be able to savour the creamy freshness of a sublime dessert.

The chef from La Darbia explained to me that chocolate ice cream is the most difficult to prepare. This is unfortunate… because it is also my favourite.
The summer that advances, however, also offers us many other fresh and thirst-quenching flavours such as fruit, while the aromas of vanilla, hazelnut or gianduia are delicious even in winter, perhaps at the end of a dinner with friends or at Christmas, together with the traditional panettone!
Delicious with waffles and crêpes, or drowned in coffee or chocolate, served with cream and eggnog, in a brioche or in a bowl of fresh fruit, ice cream is a versatile dessert that easily combines with other flavours and is therefore indispensable as a dessert or as a tasty snack.

It is not easy to attribute a "paternity" to ice cream: some trace it back to the Bible, others instead consider it an invention of the ancient Romans, while there are those who claim that this dessert was born in China and came to Europe thanks to the mythical Marco Polo. Sorbet and granita certainly originated in Sicily, obtained by mixing syrups and fruit with Etna’s snow, but it is in the Florence of the sixteenth century that 'modern' ice cream originated, the one made with milk, cream and eggs. Tradition says that, a few years later, Francesco Procopio de 'Coltelli who hailed from Palermo, after moving to the court of the Sun King, made ice cream known to the French by opening one of the most famous places in the city, namely Café Procope.

But if in the past ice cream was a delight reserved for the rich, an exclusive product served in the courts of kings, today it represents a very popular food, the first of the "street foods" thanks also to the famous waffle "cone" that accompanies our walks on the lakefront, the carefree afternoons on the beach and the days spent in the city.

If, like me you love homemade ice cream, it is hardly necessary to remind you that around our Lake Orta there are many delicious ice cream shops, you are spoiled for choice… The only problem could be the ancient Italian dilemma: cone or cup?