Patrizia Pasqualetti was born in Orvieto, in Umbria, where her family opened the first ice cream shop in 1980. “I practically grew up in there,” she says. “After school I went to the lab, I watched my parents work, I helped when I could. The scent of hot milk, creams, freshly dissolved sugar is one of my first memories.” A second-generation artisan and internationally recognized ice cream master, she brought the brand Gelato by Patrizia Pasqualetti first throughout Italy and then to the rest of the world. Her creations combine rigorous attention to raw materials with a constant desire to innovate, while respecting tradition.
For Patrizia Pasqualetti, ice cream has never been a fashion or a simple dessert. It is knowledge handed down, a daily gesture, a form of culture. A craft born within the family that, over time, has become a language capable of speaking far beyond the borders of Umbria.
In the Pasqualetti household, ice cream was never improvisation. “My father was very strict about respect for raw materials,” she recalls. “He always told me that before thinking about a new flavor you have to understand the ingredient, really know it. This is a lesson that I still carry with me today.” It is on these foundations that Gelato by Patrizia Pasqualetti was born and developed, a project that has grown over time, established itself, and opened to an international audience without losing its artisanal identity.
Today Patrizia Pasqualetti is considered one of the most authoritative voices in Italian artisanal gelato, yet she continues to reject a purely celebratory narrative. “Ice cream is serious food,” she explains. “It should not be treated as something frivolous or seasonal.” A conviction she has held for years. “True ice cream lovers eat it more in winter than in summer. My family has always been like this. Ice cream was part of our everyday life.”
Her work is based on a precise balance between tradition and experimentation. “I believe in classic flavors,” she says. “Crema, chocolate, coffee are the foundation of everything. If you can’t make those well, you can’t move forward.” Alongside this loyalty to tradition, however, there is constant attention to the present. “Research is fundamental,” she says. “But it doesn’t mean overwhelming. It means listening, observing, understanding what changes around you.”
In the Orvieto laboratory, many recipes carry a family history. “There are preparations I never wanted to touch,” she says. “I think, for example, of certain creams that still follow my mother’s recipes. They are part of our identity.” At the same time, new combinations and techniques enter the production process, always with rigorous attention to quality and consistency in the final result.
Another central aspect of Pasqualetti’s work is the relationship with the public. “It is essential for me that people understand what they are eating,” she explains. “Artisanal gelato needs to be told, explained. Only in this way can we create a true relationship.” This is also why an extremely loyal clientele has been built over the years. “There are people who have been coming back for decades. That is the most important recognition.”
The path of Patrizia Pasqualetti shows how Italian craftsmanship can be both deeply rooted and open to the future. A practice made of repeated gestures, daily care, family memory, but also conscious choices and vision.
“In the end,” she concludes, “what I try to make is honest ice cream. Ice cream that tells who we are and where we come from. If the person tasting it can feel that, then the work makes sense.”
And perhaps it is this coherence, more than anything else, that makes Patrizia Pasqualetti’s ice cream immediately recognizable.