Gelati Cecchi

Gelati Cecchi is an Italian gelato company founded in 1936 by Gabriello Cecchi in Turin. Today the company is led by grandson Stefano Cecchi.

In 1936, Gabriello Cecchi moved to Turin. He was originally from Ponte Buggianese, in Tuscany, but he hailed from France, where he learned the art of making gelato from Italian immigrants. Assisted by his wife and his brother, Tancredi, he opened an gelato parlour in Corso Palestro with a seating capacity of 200 and a workshop attached. The business grew quickly, thanks also to his famous crema gialla custard flavour, considered the best in Turin at the time. This particular type of vanilla, a flavour that no one ever managed to reproduce, was Gabriello's jewel in the crown. The glass sign featuring golden italics on an aquamarine background, which dominated the Corso Palestro parlour's shop window – Cecchi Gelati Naturali – revealed only part of the secret. Gabriello did use top quality ingredients, but it was the formula he used to mix those ingredients that made his gelati so unforgettable. It was a time when gelato was booming; it became a mass consumer good in the postwar years. Gelato recipes were perfected and new ways of eating it were invented. The usual steel cups used for serving it at tables were joined by wafer cones for eating it while strolling along. The three most important brands in Turin were Cecchi, Fiorio and Pepino. Then there were those who didn’t have a shop yet and toured the city on a bicycle cart, such as Teofilo Sanson, who sold the gelato his close friend Gabriello provided him with.

At the end of the Second World War – during which Gabriello fought alongside the partisans (he was the commander of the 77th Garibaldi Brigade in Italy and the Third International Brigade in Spain) – Gelati Cecchi made a giant leap towards industrialisation. The gelato parlour in Corso Palestro was no longer big enough for its ambitious founder, who was in no doubt as to the quality of his products and wished to distribute them beyond the borders of Turin. New machines and technologies became available, hence the first production plant in Via Abate Chanoux was set up: an establishment that initially employed 40 people. Gelati Cecchi produced gelato lollies, cones, sandwiches and tubs. The workshop boasted modern pasteurising and freezing equipment supplied by Cecchi's friends, Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani. A sales network of entrepreneurs was set up, selling and delivering gelato throughout the regions of Piedmont and Liguria. The increase in production was supported by Cecchi's first simple promotional efforts.

...
Wikipedia