Historical story

History of Gelato:Goethe Conquered by the Neapolitan Sorbet

The history of ice cream is the story of one of the greatest gastronomic successes of all time

The history of ice cream it is quite long and complex.

Do you know where this specialty spread widely and found wide acclaim from the public?

In Naples, of course.

After all, as is known, gastronomy has always been an important part of Neapolitan culture and ice cream, which from the beginning represented a tasty and refreshing delicacy capable of conquering young and old, found fertile ground in the alleys and squares of the Campania city. to your success.

This happened during the 18th century.

The great German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832), in his famous Journey to Italy , left us a wonderful fresco of the Naples of the time and of the sorbet sellers that populated it.

The artist tells of the street vendors who could be met at the edges of the streets, the so-called water workers, who, equipped with the inevitable sorbet full of ice, with a ladle poured the ice cream into small bowls that the patrons bought.

In this way you could comfortably enjoy the sorbet while walking.

There are numerous prints eighteenth-century that perfectly attest to this happy phase in the history of ice cream.

And the Neapolitan one, not that surprising us, had to be very good if it could conquer even Goethe's refined palate! ( Photo from :lavocedimaruggio.it).