The cradle of the Renaissance is to become the “cradle of ice cream” from 28th – 31st May when the city of Florence hosts its first ice cream festival. Squares throughout the city will be transformed into outdoor ice cream parlours with Piazza SS Annunziata becoming the Traditional Ice Cream Village and Piazza della Repubblica becoming the Industrial Ice Cream Village. The event is sponsored by Sammontana and launches a campaign for the EU-approved Guaranteed Traditional Speciality Seal [STG] to be applied to ice cream.
The 300,000 expected visitors to the festival will be able to participate in workshops on ice cream making, attend an exhibition on its origin and, of course, taste lots of ice cream! There will be games and special activities for children, too.
Entry to the ice cream festival is free and you can obtain two sorts of cards for tastings: A one-taste card can be purchased for one euro and a five-tastes card for five euros at the Info points in Piazza SS Annunziata and Piazza S Giovanni di Firenze during the festival or at the bookshop at the tourist office in Piazza della Stazione 4 from 25th – 31st May, 10.00 – 14.00. The cards can also be purchased at ice cream parlours participating in the festival. The five-tastes card can be purchased online here and you can collect it at the Info points by presenting your email confirmation and an ID document. The five-tastes card also entitles you to one taste of cream and to discounts on public transport and parking.
On 29th May a dinner will be held at the Palagio della Parte Guelfa. All the dishes served will be Tuscan and the theme, as you would expect, will be ice cream. You can obtain further information and book by emailing:
cenadigola@firenzegelatofestival.it
The organisers of this festival have thought about the environment, too: the five-tastes card encourages visitors to use public transport and only biodegradable containers will be used for the ice cream.
Why ice cream and why Florence? According to the festival website, these are the reasons:
Currently there is no world event celebrating ice cream.
Everyone likes ice cream and each Italian family spends 82 euros per year on the product.
Ice cream is important in the culinary history of Florence.
It was a member of the Medici family, Caterina de’ Medici, who had ice cream exported and thus it became more widely known.
And finally, the best news of all – ice cream is good for you!
It is hoped that the Florence Ice Cream Festival will become an annual event.
The Florence Ice Cream Festival 2010 is at various venues around the city from 28th – 31st May.
28th – 30th May: 10.00 – 23.00
31st May: 10.00 – 15.00.
