Catanzaro is back for a day as the capital of ice cream with a new Italian stage of the Gelato Festival World Masters. The ‘Carpigiani Challenge’ took place on 9 May at the headquarters of Maddaloni Food Service – Carpigiani dealer – the last of the three stages dedicated to Calabria which this week enriched the 2022-2025 competition calendar for the Gelato Festival World Masters, the world championship organized with strategic partners Carpigiani and Sigep – Italian Exhibition Group. The protagonists of the event were welcomed by the team manager of the Maddaloni group Oreste Vartellini and by the director Marco Maddaloni, who has been organizing for a few years this competition at its headquarters located in viale Magna Grecia in collaboration with Carpigiani and Sigep
The competition involved 11 ice cream makers from the provinces of Catanzaro, Crotone and Messina. The jury decreed a ranking of 3 selected who will participate in the second Italian semi-final scheduled for 2025 to continue the process of selecting the best Italian ice cream makers in view of the World Final in the coming years. Taste, structure, creativity and aesthetic and verbal presentation are the four parameters with which the artisanal ice creams were evaluated, promoting the choice of ingredients, the mastery of the artisans in developing the recipe, the ability to communicate and the overall result evaluated through the sight, taste and smell (see list of all participants on the last page).
Here is the ranking of the 3 selected in order of score who will access the next stages of the competition:
First place
Alessandro Squatrito of the Gelateria Ritrovo Orchidea in Oliveri (ME) with the “Oro di Sicilia” flavor
Description: pure stone-ground Sicilian pistachio ice cream, salted with Black Lava salt from Hawaii and variegated with pistachio brittle
Runner up
Ivan Procopius of Gelateria Amedeo in Catanzaro with the “Bahamas” flavor
Description: Alphonso mango sorbet with coconut and a hint of vodka
Third place
Gianfranco Callipo of the Central Bar in Catanzaro with the “Wild Fennel” flavor
Description: wild fennel ice cream infused for 6 to 8 hours, variegated with caramelized liquorice sauce, wild fennel and dark chocolate pralines with a drop of liquorice liqueur inside
There jury was composed of: Roberto Davanzoowner of Pizzeria Bob Alchimia in Spicchi, best sweet pizza of the year 2016 by Gambero Rosso; Francesco Passafaroartistic director of the Cinema Teatro Comunale of Catanzaro; Alba Lostumbojournalist from Catanzaro Informa.
With the 2022-25 edition, Gelato Festival World Masters reaches its thirteenth year of activity, having debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by the creation of the first ice cream recipe by the multifaceted architect Bernardo Buontalenti in 1559. Since then the event has expanded its its borders, expanding first to the rest of Italy, then to Europe and – since 2017 – also to the United States, before embracing the entire planet with the Gelato Festival World Masters world championship which with the 2018-2021 edition involved over 3,500 ice cream makers.
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The other participants in order of registration
