Our Story
‘GelaRto’ by Menodiciotto is the result of over 30 years gelato-making experience by Luca and Sonia Grassi of Turin, Italy. The Grassis started ‘Menodiciotto Produzione’ in 1986 to make the world’s tastiest gelato using the abundance of delicious fresh ingredients found in the Piemonte region of Italy. GelaRto is our trading name in the UK and USA.
Our gelato is still made in Turin today, but we travel further afield to source quality ingredients from across the world, such as Sicilian lemons and vanilla beans from Madagascar. Each gelato batch is made from scratch using nothing but the finest ingredients, including fresh, whole fruit wherever possible, blended with pure, crisp Piemonte water, or creamy, fresh milk from our own herd of dairy cows.
The only preservative we ever use is very cold air – something we have plenty of in the Italian Alps.
Our History
In 1956, Ciro and Rina Grassi were proud owners of Turin’s first 2-star Michelin Restaurant, Al Gatto Nero (The Black Cat). Up until then, Turin’s restaurants and gelaterias had only served milk based gelati, but Ciro wanted to introduce sorbets on the menu too!
Their sorbet became an overnight sensation proving once and for all that sorbets weren’t just for the French! Al Gatto Nero was firmly cemented in Turin folklore.
1956 was also memorable for Rina and Ciro after the birth of their son, Luca. Luca grew up enjoying French style delicacies such as ‘Mediterranean Wild Strawberry’ sorbet and ‘Sicilian Prickly Pear’ and in 1986, Luca started ‘Menodiciotto’ determined to provide his ‘tastiest sorbet’ in the world to the rest of Italy.
Today ‘the rest of Italy’ has grown to include much of Europe, China, Singapore, the USA and several middle Eastern countries. Despite being the biggest gelato company you’ve never heard of, we still apply our strict Quality before Compromise ethos and nothing goes into our gelato that hasn’t been carefully sourced and inspected by Luca himself.
Despite the phenomenal growth, Menodiciotto is still very much a family affair and in 2010, Luca’s daughter Marzia joined the team. In between helping manage the busy office and production facility, Marzia takes personal responsibility for our 200 – strong herd of dairy cows, somehow even finding the time to name them all.
We are proud to still be sorbet and gelato suppliers to Al Gatto Nero in Turin.
