Did you know where the ice cream was born? If you ask it to a Florentine he will say: “in Florence”. Well, this is half true…

In fact Florence had an important role in the evolution of  the actual recipe, but the ice cream ancestors comes from the ancient Arab world.

By the way what you eat today when you order an ice cream comes from the genius of two Florentines of the XVI century: one was called Ruggeri and he was a farmer and the other one was Bernardo Buontalenti, famous architect, sculptor, painter, engineer at the court of the Medici.

1. Ruggeri took part to a culinary contest whose theme was “the most original recipe ever seen” and he decided to realize a “dolcetto gelato” (ice cake), inspired by some forgotten recipes from the past, adding some new ingredients. We do not know exactly what were the ingredients, but among those there were for sure ice, eggs, fruits and sugar. The recipe was really appreciated by the jury, especially by Caterina de’ Medici.

2. In 1565 Buontalenti was responsible for organizing a party for the Spanish ambassadors, guests of the Duke of Tuscany in Florence. Bernardo, who was an eclectic artist prepared a new recipe with milk, eggs, honey, a bit of wine and citrus fruits. The guests from Spain liked it so much that the product became popular in a short time.