In New York as in London, there is a line in front of the window of artisanal Italian ice cream.
You recognize it before you even taste it. It has a dense, velvety texture, melting slowly in your mouth. It's made from an artisanal recipe, often passed down through the family. It's produced in small quantities, day by day. Stored at a higher temperature than commercially produced ice cream, it retains its smoothness. The flavor is direct and recognizable, because each ingredient takes center stage instead of disappearing behind flavorings and colorings. It's a fresh, seasonal product, made to be consumed the same day.
In Brooklyn, the most recounted story is that of Alessandro Trezza. He arrived in New York in 2012 with the then-naive idea of opening a gelato shop that used only fresh ingredients, without frozen bases imported from Italy. Today, that gamble has grown into a small restaurant group with ninety employees between the original gelato shop and the restaurants that have sprung up around it, such as the Have & Meyer restaurant in Williamsburg. Not far away, two other brothers, Francesco and Fabio Cataldo, have written a similar story, starting in Bari. In 2014, they opened the first Gelateria Gentile in Williamsburg. Today, there are already five locations in Manhattan, in the West Village, Nolita, and the Upper West Side, with the stated goal of reaching ten to twelve locations throughout New York State.
In London, the story began earlier. In 2004, when Christian Oddono opened the first Oddono's gelato shop in Kensington, working with Madagascar vanilla beans, French chocolate, and Sicilian pistachios. Twenty years later, he's still one of the city's leading names. Gelupo, linked to the Bocca di Lupo restaurant, grew alongside him. More recently, Wave Gelato, born from a cart run by two young Italians, became the UK's best emerging gelato brand in 2023.
Behind every display case, there's almost always the same biography. An Italian who learned the trade from a parent or grandparent, often in a small-town gelato shop, and who carried it intact to the other side of the world. This is the case of Antonio, a Calabrian gelato maker in London, who still repeats the skills he learned watching his grandfather work. What's striking, in New York as in London, isn't just the flavor. It's the way Italian artisanal gelato has become an ambassador for Italy. In an increasingly globalized world of standardized flavors, the decision to continue making gelato the way it was made in the family back room has become, almost by accident, a winning strategy.
Behind the commercial success, therefore, remains a simple story. That of people who set out with a precise idea in mind and the desire not to betray it, even thousands of miles from home. Every teaspoon sold in New York or London carries with it a piece of that history.
