Imagine this: it’s a sunny day in March 1926. Horse carriages in Westbahnstraße, here and there a car, a cyclist bumps down the cobblestone road and a travelling salesman with a handbarrow full of woven baskets is making his way up the hill. He stops at house number 7 – curious to explore the newly opened ice-cream parlor. Delicious ice-cream, hand-stirred, cooled with weekly delivered ice blocks that are brought from the cool cellar daily on the back of the apprentice.
And in 2015 this ice-cream parlor is still here, although the cooling is now electrical. Gianni de Pellegrin runs the parlor by the fourth generation together with his wife Giovanna. His grandfather moved from Italy to Vienna to bring Italian ice-cream to the locals of Neubau.
The display case for the ice-cream looks a bit different now but it is still in the same place as always. Many a kid stand before the display with gleaming eyes and watering mouths – waiting in line to finally place their order.
The special thing about this particular ice-cream parlor is that original recipes are used – just like in the old days – not like any other ice-cream. Also, there are different types of bases depending on the kind of ice-cream, such as a base of water for sorbets, oil, butter, margarine, coconut oil or whipping cream bases. After creating the base, the flavors are added.
The fruits mostly come directly from farmers but often also from guests who have trees in their gardens with particularly tasty fruits. Gianni de Pellegrin likes to experiment and create new flavors like grape or rhubarb ice-cream. With a little bit of luck you may even get to test some of these “one-day-wonders”.
At the beginning of each season we like to put it in Roberto Benignis (“Down by Law”) words: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!
