It's official: Italians love ice cream.
Only the youngest members of the Bel Paese aren't crazy about the stuff, a poll said Tuesday. The poll, carried out by the market research agency Eurisko on behalf of the Italian ice cream association, said 50 million Italians - 95% of the population - were gung ho about gelato.
Those numbers mean only the newborn, who can't eat it, don't share ice-cream mania.
Eurisko said the 50 million were fairly evenly split between those who gave free rein to their passion and those who saw gelato as a guilty pleasure to be indulged on special occasions - but not without second thoughts about the possible effect on their waistlines.
For the vast majority of respondents, 95% again, ice cream is synonymous with "pleasure".
Others' first-choice words were "happiness" (84%), "eating in company" (75%), "freedom" (55%) and "self-gratification" (50%).
Gelato is mostly appreciated because it's "nice and refreshing" (61%), "creamy" (48%), "nourishing" (48%) and, simply, "cold" (49%).
The poll found no differentiation in age, sex or geographical location in those for whom gelato was above all "a pleasure for the palate" (93%) or "a perfect children's treat" (81%). But the 89% who saw it mainly as "a great way to unwind" were mostly northwestern Italian women aged 35 or over.
Despite a raft of new flavours, Italians like tradition in their cornetto.
The poll was topped by classic white ice-cream (73%), followed by mixed fruits (41%), chocolate (27%), hazel-nut (20%), lemon (13%), strawberry (12%), vanilla (10%), stracciatella (9%) and pistacchio (8%).
As a sign of the rising power of 'slow food' and a return to leisurely eating, 80% of respondents "try to make their ice cream last as long as possible". The average time it takes an Italian to get through a medium-sized cone was calculated at around seven minutes.
