Gelato Festival World Masters: four Italian gelato makers at the World Final

Four Italian gelato makers from Bologna, Gioia Tauro (Calabria), Padua and Varna (South Tyrol) will compete in the World Final of the Gelato Festival World Masters, one of the most important international competitions dedicated to artisanal gelato. The event, organized by Gelato Festival with the support of partners such as Carpigiani and Sigep World, will take place in Las Vegas from March 24 to 26, within the International Pizza Expo & Conference.

The Italian artisans are among the 34 best gelato makers in the world, representing 18 countries, selected after a four-year journey that involved more than 3,500 professionals worldwide. Representing Italy will be Danilo Cinelli (Delizie Bolognesi, Bologna) with “Bora Bora”, a coconut milk sorbet with orange and Tahitian vanilla; Salvatore Ravese (Gelateria Garden, Gioia Tauro) with “Bacio dei due Mari”, combining Calabrian Sulla honey with notes of Arabica coffee and bergamot from Reggio Calabria, enriched with Bagnara Calabra IGP nougat crumble; Elisabeth Stolz (Osteria Hubenbauer, Varna) with “The treasures of our mountains”, a yogurt gelato with beer must ripple, cereal crumble, cooked apples and honey; and Guido Zandonà (Ciokkolatte – Il Gelato Che Meriti, Padua) with “Salted butter caramel”, a caramel gelato made with alpine butter, salted cocoa crumble with Cervia sweet salt, and a butter caramel ripple.

With the 2022–2026 edition, Gelato Festival World Masters reaches its seventeenth year, having debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by the creation of the first gelato recipe by architect Bernardo Buontalenti in 1559. Since then, the event has expanded beyond Italy to Europe and, from 2017, to the United States, eventually becoming a global championship that, in the 2017–2021 edition, involved over 3,500 gelato makers worldwide.