You Can Visit The Gelato Shop That Invented Stracciatella In This Italian City

Gelato is a beloved Italian treat with a storied history that many people who visit the country want to try. One of the most popular gelato flavors in Italy is stracciatella, gelato with fine strips of chocolate all throughout it. It is beloved for having a crunchy texture while still being smooth. While some ice cream flavors have debated origins, we know exactly who invented stracciatella: ice cream maker Enrico Panattoni.

Panattoni owned “La Marianna,” a gelato shop in Bergamo, Italy. According to the restaurant’s website, he created stracciatella in 1961 by pouring hot liquid chocolate into gelato. The cold ice cream hardened the chocolate into the iconic strips stracciatella enjoyers know and love. Panattoni named his creation after stracciatella soup, which he used to serve at a restaurant he owned. Both the soup and, therefore, the gelato get their names from the Italian word stracciare, meaning “to fray,” as a reference to this method. (Stracciatella is also the name of an Italian cheese, and it has the same etymology.) As Panattoni did not trademark or patent the name and technique, it quickly spread to other gelaterias, becoming the iconic staple flavor we know and love today.

La Marianna is still open today, with Enrico Panattoni’s family as the owners and operators. Gelato lovers visiting Italy should make time to visit the gelateria in Bergamo and sample the first-ever stracciatella gelato, which, according to the restaurant’s website, is still made with the same machines (Carpigiani L40s) that Panattoni conceived the flavor in. There is a difference between the gelato then and now, though; Panattoni’s original rendition used Luisa couverture by Perugina chocolate, while today it uses Lindt’s 58% dark cocoa.

La Marianna sells tons of gelato flavors besides stracciatella, alongside other kinds of pastries, as well as main courses made with fresh ingredients. The restaurant can be found at Largo Colle Aperto, 4 24129 Bergamo. You can even have the gelato delivered to you with their delivery service if your hotel is near enough to the restaurant.

If you can’t make it to La Marianna, you can try to recreate stracciatella yourself. After all, Panattoni’s original recipe simply used milk, eggs, sugar, and liquid chocolate, which are all ingredients you can easily acquire at home. While the traditional base is Fior di Latte, you can use the stracciatella method in gelato of varying flavors; for instance, the chocolate strips would pair perfectly with coffee gelato.