Let's discover together the history of stracciatella ice cream, a flavour that is today loved all over the world thanks to the talent of Enrico Panattoni.
Bergamo, Upper Town, Colle Aperto. Next to Porta San Alessandro is a cosy place where you can enjoy homemade ice cream, cakes and pastries. Every year the La Marianna bar-restaurant welcomes tourists from all over the world with fresh, tasty products that are impossible to say no to.
And among these tasty dishes, one cannot forget the stracciatella ice creamthe winning combination of chocolate and fiordilatte. A fantastic taste to refresh the palate during the summer heat.
But what are the origins of stracciatella and why is it called that?
Perhaps not everyone knows that this taste is nato around to the 1950s right here in Bergamo, inside La Marianna, which at the time was called Open Hill Bar.
Credit for this appetising invention is due to Enrico Panattonian important exponent of Italian catering. Having moved from the province of Lucca to Bergamo to make his fortune, Panattoni soon managed to win the hearts of the Bergamasks thanks to his artisanal ice cream production.
La Marianna ice-cream parlour in Città Alta
The restaurateur, however, wanted to bring to life an idea that had been buzzing around in his head for some time. Since at that time customers often asked to taste the famous stracciatella alla romanaa dish made of meat broth, eggs, salt and Parmesan cheese, Panattoni wanted to create an ice cream that would have the same popularity as the famous Lazio consommé.
But not only that. The new taste had to reflect the preparation technique of the soup using other ingredients, of course. So, the man looked for a way to combine chocolate with cream without making it lose consistency. The process had to remember the Roman stracciatella eggwhich, once immersed in the soup, coagulates and thus releases its full flavour.
Panattoni therefore inserted a dose of hot dark chocolate into the fiordilatte subjected to mantecatura. The movement of the mantecatore paddles 'tore' the chocolate into small pieces while it was solidifying. And this is how the ice cream gradually took on the characteristic appearance we all know!
In the month of June 2018 Bergamo wanted to pay tribute to stracciatella and its inventor by organising a giant party called 'Stracciatelling - The Ice Cream Festival'. During the festivities, the public was treated to comedy sketches on the history of ice cream, musical performances and circus shows held in the beautiful setting of Old Square.
If you love ice cream and want to try real stracciatella, all you have to do is come to find us in Bergamo!
To read more articles on the history of stracciatella and the bar-restaurant La Mariannatake a look here: Stracciatella - the ice cream of Bergamo
