Frozen Desserts

Italians have long been recognized for their supremacy in the realm of frozen desserts. Arabs brought what came to be known as sorbetto to Sicilia (the word is derived from the Arabic word shariba, meaning “cool drink”), but gelato is said to have been created by the court architect and artist Bernardo Buontalenti for the court of Francesco de’ Medici in 1565. One hundred years later, frozen desserts appear to have been commonplace, at least in certain areas of Italy. According to historians Capatti and Montanari in their book Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History, “When Antonio Latini, a native of the Marches, took up service at the court of Naples in 1659, he had the impression ‘that everyone [in the city] was born with a special skill and instinct for making sorbets.’” The first book devoted entirely to frozen desserts, called De’ Sorbetti, written by Filippo Baldini, was published in Naples in 1775. It discusses sorbetti, as well as “milky sorbets,” meaning ice creams.