alice hawkins, leicester statue
February 5, 2018 / External PR, Internal PR

Suffragette hero Alice Hawkins celebrated by Gelato Village

 

 

In the centenary year of the Representation of the People Act, Leicester’s Gelato Village have joined in with the celebration of Alice Hawkins’ dedication to women’s rights and the improvement of working conditions.

“Alice was a local working class hero who campaigned tirelessly in Leicester to improve working conditions in the Boot & Shoe Industry and to gain women’s suffrage” said Daniele Taverna, co-owner of the Leicester gelateria. “The least we can do is name a gelato for her”.  Gelato Village have selected a white chocolate and lavender gelato to simply name ‘Alice Hawkins’.

“The colours of the gelato – purple, green and white – are the same as the colours used by the Women’s Social and Political Union” said Daniele. “These would have been the colours of the sash shown on the newly unveiled status of Ms Hawkins in Market Square”.

 

 

This is not the first time that Gelato Village have immortalised significant local figures in gelato.  A Richard III gelato, made with rose blossom and fruits of the forest ripple has been available since the gelateria opened in August 2014.  The Gelato dei Campioni, which celebrated the historic Premier League victory of Leicester City Football Club in 2016, was ‘retired’ in February 2017 when Claudio Ranieri was sacked by the club.

December 9, 2017 / External PR

See the biggest ever real ice rink in Leicester as it opens for business

Mulled wine, apple juice, canapes and mini treats from Gelato Village were also available for skaters to feast on.

December 1, 2017 / External PR

Think it’s too cold outside for gelato? Gelato Village has you covered with its Winter Warmers menu

Gelato Village has got to be one of the worst-kept secrets among foodies in Leicester.

Their authentic, homemade gelato is the closest thing to Italy you’ll get in the city, and has bagged the shop heaps of awards.

November 27, 2017 / External PR

Compagnia Gelatieri alla Mostra del Gelato di Longarone 2017

Nasce dalla Compagnia Gelatieri la proposta , accettata da molte altre associazioni, di organizzare la CENA DEL GELATIERE durante la Mostra Internazionale del Gelato Artigianale (MIG di LOngarone (BL).

November 24, 2017 / External PR

Piemonte flavored gelato in the UK

If you love gelato as much as we do, you will love this post by Laura Hadland about Gelato Village, in Leicester, UK. This is the gelateria founded by our Twitter and Instagram friends Antonio and Daniele, both from Turin

November 20, 2017 / External PR

Gelato Village teams up with new Leicester pub to launch unique pop-up

To celebrate the switch-on of Leicester’s Christmas lights, two foodie businesses in the city are coming together to host a unique festive pop-up.

This Thursday, November 23, Gelato Village will be taking their cart of delights to the terrace of Knight and Garter, where they will be serving six delicious flavours of gelato and sorbetto.

November 7, 2017 / External PR

Gelato days – when the Maestri Gelatieri came to town

It may be Autumn, but last weekend I was taken back to Italian summer evenings on the shores of Lake Garda, to afternoons of stifling heat in Florence, and stolen moments outside Leicester Cathedral on warm, sunny lunch breaks.

November 4, 2017 / External PR

The 10 best cafes in Leicestershire – according to TripAdvisor

#1. Gelato Village
Perhaps unsurprisingly the first on the list is another St Martins Square venue – Gelato Village.
What goodies will you find in the Gelato Village cabinet?

October 31, 2017 / External PR

Gelato in the Square event success!

The UK’s first celebration of artisan Italian gelato saw ten of the world’s finest Maestri Gelatieri descend on Gelato Village in Leicester last weekend. As well as bringing incredible new tastes to the people of the city – including Chocolate & Tuscan Cigar – the event provided an opportunity for visitors to learn more about the craft behind traditional gelato making and the careful sourcing of ingredients that goes into its creation.

October 31, 2017 / External PR, Internal PR

Gelato in the Square event heralded as an incredible success!

The UK’s first celebration of artisan Italian gelato saw ten of the world’s finest Maestri Gelatieri descend on Gelato Village in Leicester last weekend. As well as bringing incredible new tastes to the people of the city – including Chocolate & Tuscan Cigar – the event provided an opportunity for visitors to learn more about the craft behind traditional gelato making and the careful sourcing of ingredients that goes into its creation.

Supported by a range of small local producers, the team at Gelato Village and their VIP guests crafted sixteen unique gelato and sorbetto creations which showcased the best produce of the season, and their home region. At the centre of this was the rare breed milk and cream from Belvoir Ridge Creamery, Leicestershire, whose single herd of Red Poll cattle supply all of the dairy used by Gelato Village. The visiting gelatieri were delighted to take this excellent local product as the basis for all of their creations, particularly having tried a blind taste test of the milk against the supermarket equivalent at the event’s launch on Friday. All of the gelatieri at the event are committed to Slow Food principles of producing food which is Good, Clean and Fair.


The launch saw another unique event, a gelato inspired colour transformation by local salon group, Barrie Stephen. They sponsored the Fig, Almond & Bay gelato, and were so inspired by the rich colours of the white fig of Cilento, a delicacy of the Campanian region, that they created a bespoke look for their model who was presented to the gelatieri, much to their amazement and delight. Also at the event, local vintner Liz Robson of Rothley Wine Estate provided some refreshing English sparkling wine to toast the event’s success.

 

Throughout the weekend, hungry guests visited the gelateria to enjoy their customary free tastes of gelato, before choosing which of the special flavours they wanted to enjoy.

Antonio De Vecchi, Maestro Gelatiere at Gelato Village was delighted with their response:
“Between us, we made half a tonne of gelato over three days for Leicester to enjoy. We’ve loved the enthusiasm with which our customers have embraced the skill and expertise of our visiting gelatieri colleagues. 
I am also proud to repot that our own creation, The Gelato in the Square, using Marron Glacé from our home region of Piemonte has also been a runaway success!”

As well as enjoying the delicious treats, visitors were treated to an extensive programme of free events throughout the weekend, based around the theme of ‘getting to know gelato’. As well as each of the award winning gelatieri presenting their flavours and their inspiration (along with a delicious free tasting), this programme included a range of local food and drink specialists, including The Bee Farmer giving daily talks about his work and Aperitivo Hour demonstrations from Charlotte Wood of renowned local bar Manhattan34.

 

Award winning chef, Andrea Scarpati of Sapori Restaurant and Bar made a showstopping pairing of Quince & Franciacorta sorbetto with a stunning dish of Scottish salmon tataki with panko bread,soy sauce and balsamic vinegar emulsion served with quince variation. Gelato sponsors Everards also delighted with a pairing of their Tiger bitter with ‘Bacio’ gelato and Planet Leicester Bakers challenged the Masters to a Flavour Off – where interpretations of Spiced Pear in bread and sorbetto were found to complement each other perfectly, rather than being bitter rivals as intended!

Gelato Village would like to extend its thanks to all of the visiting gelatieri, many of whom closed their own award winning independent gelaterias in Italy to participate in the event. Also thanks go to the Compagnia Gelatieri, a professional association of gelato makers, who supported the organisation of the event, as well as Agrimontana and Antonelli Brothers for their sponsorship.

“I found Gelato in the Square to be a great experience. 
Our hosts did a fantastic job, and personally I hope they repeat the event in the future! 
I also found all of the visitors were very interested in the making of the gelato. 
As there is so much work to be done so that people can understand more about good quality ingredients, and therefore good gelato, I’d love to see more events like this.”
Vera Castrovilli, Nevedarance – Caluso, Piemonte

Notes for Editors
An extensive gallery of images by Matt Glover Photography is available to support coverage of this event.
For more information, interview requests or supplementary information, please contact Laura Hadland.

 

Gelato Village is an independent gelateria in the heart of Leicester which is dedicated to make high quality fresh products without the use of any artificial flavourings, stabilisers or preservatives. It was opened in 2014 by Antonio De Vecchi and Daniele Taverna and has received numerous local, national and international accolades for the quality of its gelato.