Taking place at Italian Exhibition Group’s SIGEP and A. B. TECH Tech Expo 2020, the 9th Gelato World Cup took place. The Coppa del Mondo della Gelateria featured 11 teams from around the world competing in eight tests over three days.

The Italian team won the gold medal, with Japan and Argentina placing second and third, respectively. Each team in the competition entered with a contest theme. The winners showed their skill with “The secrets of the forest”, with an ice sculpture showing a deer emerging from a bush and a gelato cake with pistachio, raspberry, and strawberry and brambles on a brittle base with mascarpone and vanilla flavored semifreddo.

Japan achieved second place on the podium with the theme “Flowers of music”, and Argentina chose “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

The Italian team consisted of gelato maker Eugenio Morrone, pastry chef Massimo Carnio, chef Marco Martinelli and ice sculptor Ciro Chiummo, with team leader Giuseppe Tonon. They competed in decorated gelato tub, glass individual portion, mystery box (different surprise ingredients for each team), artistic gelato cake, haut cuisine entrée, sculpture in ice and brittle, gelato snack, and Final Grand buffet (i.e. the presentation of all the entries). Assisting the champions were the students of Rimini’s Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Hotel School.

As well as the award for the best gelato cake, other special awards went to Japan for the best ice sculpture; for the most innovative flavor, Argentina obtained maximum votes in the Mystery Box; Italy won the Best Final Grand Buffet award, assigned by the artistic jury; and, Japan won the Carlo Pozzi Award for tidiness and cleanness, in keeping its workspace in the best conditions.