Sicily in Florence
Antonio, the "Revolutionary" Master Gilataru
Master Battiato, tasting one of his granitas, said: “Here lies the meaning of life.”
This is the story of a Sicilian who gave artisanal ice cream to the Florentines, and now they can't do without it.
His words express all his love for his homeland, Sicily, and for Patti, his hometown in the province of Messina, where his great-grandfather, at the end of the 19th century, began collecting snow from the Nebrodi mountains in winter to create a slightly dense mixture:
at the border.
And in Florence, on the Tuscan hills, he recreated a little Sicily, starting with ice cream, with raw ingredients, art, care, and research.
My story is that of many Sicilians who refuse to give up. I've always maintained that Sicily is a wonderful land where so much can be achieved, and that those who leave only do so because there are certain logics that lead to a crossroads, and so either you take the plunge and make bullying your way of life, or you leave. And leaving is what I did when I realized I had no choice, that they wouldn't let me realize my dream here.
I wanted to open a kiosk selling artisanal ice cream and granitas, but my requests remained unanswered.
One day, after repeated requests, they told me they wouldn't grant me permission due to a landscape issue... we're talking about a seafront that was in truly bad condition, and my little kiosk might have brought a touch of beauty and sweetness.
So I decided not to succumb and not to do things abusively, as so many do. My father was a Carabiniere, a trusted man of Dalla Chiesa's when he was still a colonel. I could never betray what had been my upbringing. So one day in July, my wife, who was still my fiancée at the time, and I decided to leave. We got married on October 28th and left the next day.
Thus began Antonio's adventure:
"The choice of Florence was a careful one. First of all, I knew the Florentines' passion for Sicilian granitas, and then I wanted to choose a place with a high tourist density, so I had to choose between Rome, Venice, and Florence... I chose the latter, which I didn't know, and I've been here for thirty-six years.
In 1989, I came to Florence, saw, and stayed. I had already gone before for a week to see, and the prices were crazy. I was 25 years old, with little savings. I was about to return to Patti when I had a last-minute meeting with a man of Neapolitan origins, and in 10 minutes we finalized the terms of the purchase. He was selling a place on Via Ricasoli (a stone's throw from the Galleria dell'Accademia). He told me I could pay in nine years... I paid less. We ended up producing 500 kilos of gelato a day in six years.
For Antonio, ice cream is a family tradition, interrupted for a generation and resumed by him almost by chance.
His paternal grandfather, in fact, died three months before his father was born.
«I started by pure chance, a family friend asked me to make him some ice cream, I took some notes from my great-grandfather, I did the mixing, the churning and the result was something that was very much appreciated.
I think I have my grandfather's spirit beside me, I feel it often, the artisans always find a solution."
