Forget the quintessential plate of pasta as the stereotypical Italian lunch. According to a recent study of 800 artisan ice cream producers, Italians are increasingly foregoing a typical lunch in favour of a wonderful, colourful, ice-cold ice cream. In particular 40% of Italians, with the majority of them in the north of Italy, are replacing lunch with an artisan ice creams.
Other interesting results to emerge from the study, produced by Confartigianato, are that the majority of ice cream shops or "gelaterie" are to be found in the north of Italy. All over Italy the sale of artisan ice cream, as opposed to industrially produced ice-cream, is on the increase with 50% of ice cream consumed in Italy coming from artisans. Italians consume 330 thousand tons of artisan ice cream, about 12Kg per person, spending 3.2 billion euros.
The Confartigianato is trying to protect this artisan ice cream by obtaining from the European Union the recognition of this ice cream as a traditional speciality that should be guaranteed in its quality. The intention, according to Giacomo Deon, director of Confartigianato, is to protect the name of this artisan product and to make it clear that it is quite a different product from industrially produced ice cream.
