Italian ice cream also enjoys absolute consensus in Austria. The convocation of the Italian Gelato Week in Vienna can testify to this, which will be repeated for a week in all the Italian ice cream shops in the capital of the former Hapsburg empire. "Italian ice cream parlors are a reference point in many Central European cities, but their story is little known. The story of these mountaineers from the valleys of the Dolomites who came down to the city as ice cream makers and arrived in Vienna as early as the 19th century and conquered all the However, central Europe is very interesting", said the Italian ambassador in Austria, Stefano Beltrame, introducing the event.

"It's an ancient story - recalled Beltrame - which has its origins in the Republic of Venice and its famous naval arsenal. The trees and timber needed to build all those ships and the foundations of the palaces came from the forests of the Dolomites and of the mountains north of Venice. When technological progress began to make ships built in iron and no longer in wood, these traditional jobs were no longer required and the inhabitants of Val Zoldana had to invent something new. valley to sell caramelized cooked apples. In the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the invention of industrial beet sugar, they began to produce homemade ice cream and it was a great success".

The Italian Gelato Week was presented at the Italian Embassy in Vienna by a group of master ice cream makers from Val di Zoldo, the place from which the first ice cream makers exported their creations to Venice and then to Vienna. For the occasion, the flavor of the year 2023 will also be presented: Apfelstrudel ice cream (apple strudel).