It's not easy to trace the history of ice cream, certain is that three Italians contend with the paternity of the modern ice cream: Ruggeri, Procopio and Buontalenti. But let's take a step back.
In the ancient Egypt the Pharaons used to offer silver goblets of snow and fruit juices to their guests. In Asia Minor, it was custom to freeze the fruit juices by placing them in containers of crushed ice. It was thank to the Arabs that after the Middle Ages (dark ages for everything that was fine and delectable) the ice cream was rediscovered and named: sherbet (sweet snow) and here chorbet, that has become sorbet nowadays("sorbetto" in italian). The meeting between this invading people and a land rich of delicious fruit and snow as it is Sicily,has brought the creativity to create and to let the people enjoy it.
Is in the Risorgimento though that a man from Florence, named Ruggeri, made a breakthrough in the Medici's court preparing a sorbet that thrilled who had the fortune to taste it, so good that Caterina De Medici wanted him in France to amaze the people of that court. In Paris in 1553 Ruggeri surprised the diners with his skillful and delicious work,so much that all the many rich and noble family would have paid any sum to bring the author of such a refined art with them. Catherine refused and that increased the envy and the hostility of the majority of the french cooks who tried to boycott him in every way, so that one evening, while he was returning home, he was beaten and robbed. Scared and tired ,after having delivered the secret recipes of his art,Ruggeri asked to Caterina if he could go back to Italy.
Also in Florence shortly after, Messer Bernardo Buontalenti,a skillful chef, was appointed to prepare sumptuous banquets at the end of which he presented a fabulous frozen dessert,made with creams, zabaione (dessert made of whipped egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine),fruits and different spices. The success was enormous, and the Spaniards,guests at court,were delighted.
But was the third italian, Francesco Procopio, sicilian, who had inherited a strange machine to make sorbet, that modified it by the addition of two key ingredients for the time. He used sugar instead of honey,and salt mixed with the ice to make it last longer. He created a mixture so delightful that he opened a restaurant in Paris called "Caffè Procope" which gave him a great reputation. Customers such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Balzac, and then the official Napoleon used to enjoy the delicacies prepared by our compatriot.
Versione Italiana