What Do Michelangelo and Gelato Have in Common? (Part 1 of 2)

Question:  What do Michelangelo and gelato have in common?   (A clue appears below.)

The clue

Answer:  Michelangelo's David and Florence's annual Gelato Festival are located at the Piazzale Michelangelo.

At the Piazzale Michelangelo

Susan and Sally pose under the David during the 2017 Florence Gelato Festival.  A bronze replica of Michelangelo's David towers over the Piazzale Michelangelo. 

Something we didn't know before attending the festival is that Florence is the birthplace of gelato--that delicious cold and creamy dessert of many flavors.  The reputed inventor of gelato was a Florentine named Bernardo Buontalenti.  Greg thinks Buontalenti should be known as St. Bernard. 

While Sally was in Florence, we visited the festival and had a very tasty time together.  Below is a photographic tour of the festival.

The festival hosts a competition among many gelato shops, or gelateria.  The chef of each shop enters an artisanal gelato for tasting by festival goers.  A total of 16 gelateria were represented.  That made for tasting a lot of gelato of many different flavors.

Flavor #1

Silvana Vivoli and her gelateria Vivoli are well known.  We visited Vivoli during our personal Gelato Jamboree, featured in an earlier blog post.  Vivoli was featured in the Florence episode of I'll Have What Phil's Having.  The host Phil cried when he tasted Silvana's cream gelato because it was so good.

Italians take their gelato VERY seriously.  There's even a Gelato University in Italy, not far from Florence, with branches around the world.  Who knew?

While attending the festival, Sally met Pino the Peguin (Pino Pinguino in Italian).  After sharing some sugar with Pino, Sally sampled some of Pino's delicious gelato.

One of the flavors in the competition was Mango, Mango, Mango.  Since Greg is crazy for mango, he ate Sally's cone with Mango, Mango, Mango when she turned away.  Too bad for Sally. 

The competition involved voting by the public.  Greg hopes Mango, Mango, Mango is the winner. 

Next Up:  Why the location of the festival is so wonderful.