Patrizia Pasqualetti was born in Orvieto, in Umbria, where his family opened the first ice cream shop in 1980, “I practically grew up in there”, he says. “After school I went to the lab, I watched my parents work, I helped when I could. The scent of hot milk, creams, freshly dissolved sugar is one of my first memories”. Second-generation artisan and internationally recognized ice cream master, brought the brand Gelato by Patrizia Pasqualetti first throughout Italy and then into the world. Its creations combine rigorous attention to raw materials to a constant desire to innovate in the respect of tradition.
For Patrizia Pasqualetti ice cream has never been a fashion or a simple dessert. It is a knowledge handed down, a daily gesture, a form of culture. A work that was born in the family and, over time, has become a language capable of speaking far beyond the borders of Umbria.
In the house Pasqualetti the ice cream has never been improvisation. “My father was very strict on the respect of raw materials,” he recalls. “It always told me that before thinking about a new taste you have to understand the ingredient, really know it. This is a lesson that I carry behind me again today”. It is on these bases that it is born and develops Gelato by Patrizia Pasqualetti, a project that over time grows, is established and opens to an international audience without losing its own artisan identity.
Today Patrizia Pasqualetti is considered one of the most authoritative voices of Italian artisan ice cream, but continues to refuse a purely celebratory narrative. “The ice cream is a serious food,” he explains. “It should not be treated as something frivolous or seasonal”. A conviction that has been going on for years. “The real lovers of ice cream eat it more in winter than in summer. Family has always been like this. Ice cream was part of our everyday life”.
His work is based on a precise balance between tradition and experimentation. “I believe in classic tastes,” he says. «Crema, chocolate, coffee are the basis of everything. If you can’t do those well, you can’t move on.” Next to this fidelity to the roots, however, there is constant attention to the present. “Speech is fundamental,” he says. “But it doesn’t mean overwhelming. It means listening, observing, understanding what changes around you».
In the laboratory of Orvieto, many recipes have a family history. “There are preparations I never wanted to touch,” he says. “I think, for example, to some creams that still follow the recipes of my mother. I am part of our identity.” At the same time, new combinations and new techniques enter the production process, always with rigorous attention to the quality and consistency of the final result.
Another central aspect of Pasqualetti’s work is the relationship with the public. “It is essential for me that people understand what they are eating,” he explains. “The homemade ice cream needs to be told, explained. Only in this way we create a true relationship”. This is also why an extremely loyal clientele has been built over the years. “There are people who have been coming back for decades. This is the most important recognition.”.
The path of Patrizia Pasqualetti shows how Italian craftsmanship can be at the same time deeply rooted and open to the future. A work made of repeated gestures, daily attention, family memory, but also conscious choices and vision.
“At the end,” he concludes, “what I try to do is an honest ice cream. An ice cream that tells us who we are and where we come from. If the taster can hear this, then the work makes sense.”.
And perhaps this coherence, more than anything, makes Patrizia Pasqualetti ice cream immediately recognizable.
L’articolo Ice cream by Patrizia Pasqualetti to tell the Italian tradition proviene da IlNewyorkese.
