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We went to Rome to meet a talented and original artist in the field of gelato:
Maria Agnese Spagnuolo, alias Fatamorgana a name that is well known to most ice
cream fans. And not only in Italy, because her recipes
have conquered Europeans, Americans and Japanese alike, who have written articles and made
TV reports about her secrets to try and find ways to reproduce them at home.
Let's go seek out this eclectic artisan in the laboratory where her magic is born...
>> Maria: I am Maria Agnese Spagnuolo. I am 47 years old and come from a southern Italian
town called Taranto. It's in a beautiful bay, a beautiful coastline, though the town itself
isn't so great. That's why I moved here to northern -- okay, central -- Italy, to Rome, 13 years ago
By the age of 5 I already had a great love for gelato. And this led me to study it
... even at home, watching my mother I cultivated this passion for gelato, creating my own little world
and began to experiment with natural things, but also with a small gelato maker... at home
Then I moved to Rome with my boyfriend - now my husband
We came from a world that is far removed from gelato the world of acting,
which involves a lot of travelling, moving every day.
From there, I... let's say I transferred my art into gelato
The name, Fatamorgana, is a reminder of my land... the sea... she comes from the sea,
reminds me of the sea, and also because I use many spices and infusions,
which is a characteristic of my gelato. My favourites are chocolate and pistachio, because...
I always make this comparison: it's green like a lawn, and dark like the earth.
Flavours, colours, ingredients selected individually. In frequently daring combinations
>> Maria: I fight competition with quality. I don't see the work of others;
I see mostly my own work and try to improve it every day.
With the advent of industrialisation, we've lost much of the artisanal in this small world.
The real craft was who create from a cream that was baked, In a soft frozen cream
This is my gelato
We have girls working here because this is a school.
This is what I want to build on: to continue involving more people,
to spread the knowledge, to those who want to enter this small world of gelato,
while continuing with the old traditions... of making artisanal gelato.
>> Maria: This is the preparation of chestnuts, the dried blueberries that are added to the chestnuts,
which is boiled with vanilla. It's a shame you can't smell the scent of vanilla
and blueberries together with the chestnuts. The images don't do it justice.
Now the chestnuts are blended with sugar, and we create a sorbet.
When we see the chestnuts are properly cooked, it's easy to blend
The sorbet It's thickened, not cooked,
the mixture looks almost like a jam...
we add some water and thicken the already cooked mixture.
As this is a sorbet, we only need to thicken it; there's no need for pasteurisation.
Now we have the chestnut sorbet.
As you can see, it's very soft because its temperature is -8°;
Now it needs to sit in the freezer for at least two hours before eating,
because it's still very delicate structurally.
The ideal serving temperature for gelato is -18°...
now we'll taste it.
I'm always the first to taste my gelato... absolutely!
I don't even try to hide it!
Fatamorgana's gelato are real, true works of art
balanced miracles created through meticulous study and lots of experimentation.
>> Maria: My gelato is special because you can taste the real flavours.
Our secret is our selection of ingredients, recognising the best fruit, which is the best almond
the difference between Avola and Toritto almonds, for example.
I need that people see and understand the differences that is,
I don't keep just one almond on display, but lots; I also have many varieties of pistachio too.
This is precisely how it becomes a secret:
when everything is seen in broad daylight, many believe there's something hidden beyond...
in fact, that's not so... it's just work and effort... This is our secret.
But this Pugliese beauty's love of gelato was put at risk
by a discovery that could have compromised her passion forever...
>> Maria: I was 35 when I found out I had coeliac disease.
I effectively auto-diagnosed this intolerance. I went for the usual tests and the result was positive.
This changed my views on food a bit: what I could east; what I couldn't eat especially gelato
which should not contain gluten, but it's often the case that you don't know how it was made
For this reason, I could no longer eat gelato freely.
And this is why I chose to create my own gelato; my view became that of many others,
because not only do I produce gluten-free gelato, but I have also created new recipes
that are milk-free, sugar-free, and so I try to keep an eye, to pay attention to those who are like me, and there are many.
And this is how Fatamorgana overcame her personal crisis transforming it into an opportunity.
>> Maria: It was a big success, as well as a personal one,
because this means people are no longer excluded from this world,
and they return with smiles on their lips and they say thank you... this is my victory.
Recognition and awards I try to receive directly from the people who return to eat the gelato,
and this is the best recognition I could have.
Then, obviously, there's the attention from magazines
TV, even from abroad -- many foreigners have become interested in our story, our work.
They have made us offers to relocate our production to other countries...
but we remain here, tied to Italy, because we love being here.
But ther are other ostacles to overcome
>> Maria: There have been small problems. A shop on the street can be difficult to open here in Italy
there are small bureaucracies that throw obstacles in your path. There was no
single person who could help us with these problems. It took us months to resolve them,
delaying the opening... but we're here today.
The research has seen a sharp rise, as demonstrated
a genuine army of hard-core fans
>> Boy: I'm lucky because I live next door, so I can always come and eat gelato here whenever
I want, when I'm hungry... it's great, I must say!
>> Foreign lady: For me, this gelato is a special experience
>> Boy: It's natural gelato, different from the others, because it has its own flavour.
Like the strawberry and lemon taste so much better than those made elsewhere
>> Lady: There's Italian gelato in London, but not as fresh as here...
the fruit flavours are truly special
>> Lady 2: I'm trying this honey, nut and... basil flavour today... excellent
>> Lady 3: Original flavours,
they only use quality ingredients and the gelato is easily digested...
it's very good
>> Girl 1: nuts, rose petals and violets
>> Girl 1: nuts, rose petals and violets
(Off-screen): Is it good? >> Girl 1: Very, I've had it before
>> Girl 2: it's the second time I've ordered the custard
which is very simple, but I adore it
>> Girl 1: unique flavours that you don't find everywhere, and always of high quality
With the passion and determination that have always been fundamental, Fatamorgana has achieved
other feats, such as overcoming the tentacles of bureaucracy, opening new shops and gaining
recognition abroad too.
>> Maria: I opened my first gelato shop in 2003.
Over the next 10 years, we opened another six
while the laboratory has been centralised.
This is another of our successes -- for both my husband and myself -- that we have built this little world.
We now have over 25 employees working with us.
Maria Agnese Spagnuolo, known to most as Fatamorgana, is a unique Italian talent in her field.
What will you do? Leave or stay?
>> Maria: I'll stay...
stay in my beloved italy
because I believe that here there are many, many possibilities... we'll discover them
and they'll make a difference... we hope, this is what I believe in, and always will.
We want to develop our small world and bring it to places outside Italy.
To create a school of real artisans, where students can also rediscover the flavours of their own land.
It's not the exporting of the gelato itself that so many others do
but to implant the Italian culture of gelato abroad.