Bologna is home to a dedicated gelato university
While Florence claims to have invented the dessert, this northern Italian city transformed it into a global science through a specialized trade school and a massive manufacturing hub.
Although gelato is often associated with the Renaissance courts of Florence or the sorbets of Sicily, its modern standardization began in the late 1940s. During Italy's postwar economic boom, the manufacturer Carpigiani established its headquarters on the outskirts of Bologna. The company developed new technologies to reproduce artisanal methods on a massive scale, effectively turning the city into the global capital of gelato production.