Gelato: 1.4 bln euro business, Rome and Naples in the lead
Milan - Gelaterias are a major business in Italy, with a value of some 1.4 million euros. In Italy there are over 19 thousand gelaterias, including producers and parlors, providing almost 69 thousand jobs. The queen of gelato is Rome, with 1,399 businesses employing 4,195 people. Next in the ranking are Naples by number of enterprises (933) and Milan by number of jobs (2,690). Also featuring among the top ten in terms of enterprises are Turin, Salerno, Bari, Brescia, Palermo, Venice and Catania, and the fastest growing are Milan (up by 4.5 percent) and Palermo (up by 3.6 percent). The source of the data is the Milan Chamber of Commerce. "The buzzword and major innovation this summer 2017 is 'Clean Label' - according to Luca Maggi, President of the gelato makers group at Assofood (Milan Confcommercio - Italian General Confederation of Enterprises, Professions and Self-Employment) and owner of the artisanal gelateria Shockolat Maggi - which means that a product is free of thickeners, emulsifiers and/or artificial colors. It essentially shows that the product is authentic, something our ever-more demanding consumers are looking for, but also what artisanal gelato manufacturers want so as to offer a product that is increasingly natural." "This summer 2017 - Maggi continued - we want to promote fruit gelato in order to link it with local areas around Italy, offering flavors such as Trentino apple, Sicilian citrus fruit, Apulia peach, Emilia watermelon, Calabria bergamot orange, Mantua cantaloupe melon, Veneto strawberry, and Vignola cherries in vanilla ice cream. Bronte Pistachio and Piedmont hazelnut already feature widely in all gelaterias." In Lombardy, with its 173 million euro ice cream business, there is no shortage of places where you can enjoy good gelato. In 2016, there were almost three thousand (2,608) gelaterias in the region, up by 1.2 percent compared to the 2,576 in 2015, with 32 more. The increase was due particularly to Milan, home to a total of 783, having gained an additional 34 in a year (up by 4.5 percent), and Monza which has 191, with 10 more (up by 5.5 percent). The cities with the largest number of gelaterias are: Milan with 783, Brescia with 383, Bergamo with 279, Varese with 265, Monza with 191, Como with 162, and Pavia with 161. The data is from a survey conducted by the Milan Chamber of Commerce comparing the figures at the end of 2016 with those for the same period in 2015.Employment figures in the sector remain stable with over 9 thousand jobs. There is a high proportion of women working in gelaterias (30.9 percent of the total in Lombardy). Young people also account for a significant proportion of the region's employees in the sector, with 11.7 percent. Non Italians, too, are working with one of the symbols of Italian food culture in the world, accounting for 5 percent of jobs in the region. The gelato is high quality, with 77 percent of gelaterias run as independent artisanal producers. "Milan - notes Antonio Morgese, owner of Gelateria Rigoletto and council member of the gelato makers group at Assofood (Milan Confcommercio) - is one of the few cities in Italy where the number of enterprises in this sector has grown, but this also shows the essence of the city, namely to anticipate trends.""But there is no doubt - Morgese points out - that the whole of Italy will benefit from this positive trend as a result. Although the number of people working in our sector is stable, I nevertheless hope that in order to provide the best protection for small artisanal enterprises a set of rules and regulations will be put in place to define and safeguard the excellence of artisanal Italian gelato".