Carlo Gatti – Inventor of the Penny Ice Cream: Immigrant Brings Parisian Cafe Society to Victorian L

Carlo was born in 1817 in the Blenio Alpine Valley, Italian-speaking Switzerland. It was a poor, isolated area whose male inhabitants couldn’t wait to leave and find work in newly-industrialised Europe.

Carlo Gatti Walks From Switzerland to Paris

Carlo was no exception. Initially, he seemed to lack ambition; he was not a scholar and often played truant. After a terrible beating at school Carlo never returned. Instead he walked to Paris, a journey of 600 miles, where his father had established a chestnut business.

Paris was full of lively cafes, serving all classes. They provided coffee, ice cream and light music. Doubtless Carlo would have absorbed their management techniques and atmosphere.

Carlo Gatti Tries His Luck In England

Carlo certainly didn’t settle down to the family chestnut trade and in 1847 at the age of 30 and married, he arrived at Dover.

Carlo began life in London running a coffee stall. Holborn was the Italian immigrant community and he probably lived there. Two of his children died, an event that must have spurred Carlo on in his new-found ambitions to provide a better life for his family.

Carlo Gatti Begins Life as an Entrepreneur

Battista Bolla had premises at 129 Holborn Hill. In 1849 Carlo joined forces with him and they opened a café-restaurant. Bolla was a chocolatier so Carlo attracted crowds to the window with an imported Parisian chocolate-making machine.

Carlo Gatti Introduces Ice Cream to the Victorian Public

The year of the Great Exhibition, 1851, saw Carlo established as a pastry cook in the Great Hall of Hungerford Market off the Strand. In only four years he had five shops in the Great Hall and may have started selling his Penny Ice Cream to the public from here. His Penny Ice was a great novelty. Ice cream was usually reserved for the rich, but soon London streets were awash with Italian ice cream sellers or, Hokey Pokey men, so called as they tempted customers by saying, “Ecco un poco” – “Taste a little”.

A Parisian-Style Café for Ordinary People

At Hungerford Market Carlo established a Parisian-style café which served coffee, ices and light music. This was a new type of venue for working people and families.

Fate Helps Carlo Gatti Expand His Empire

Two events ensured the increase in Carlo Gatti’s fortunes:

1. The Hungerford Market burned down. He was insured and with the compensation seized the opportunity for expansion. In partnership with relatives he formed a music hall in the refurbished Hall.

2. The Hungerford Market was sold to make way for Charing Cross station. The Gattis received £7,750 compensation.

The Italian Ice Man Cometh:

Time for Carlo to become – an ice merchant!

It is thought that Carlo had a license to cut ice on the Regents Park Canal, but eventually he imported purer ice from Norway, becoming London’s largest ice merchant. The ice was stored in his wells along the Regents Canal and delivered by horse and cart to his many customers.

The Gatti Family’s Other Business Included:

• 1862 –Lambeth: a café-restaurant which became a music hall;

• 1862 – Royal Adelaide Gallery, Refreshment Rooms.

• 1864 – Carlo bought a new house/confectioner’s shop at 52 Strand

• Carlo’s relatives opened famous restaurants at Strand and Piccadilly

• 1867 – Carlo opened World’s Largest Billiard room and café-restaurant underneath the arches, Villiers Street

• 1870 – Carlo bought small farm in Hendon.

• 1870s –Gattis organised prom concerts and pantomimes at Covent Garden

• 1880s – They had mains laid in Strand to light the Adelphi Theatre which they owned.

• 1889 – Sir John Gatti formed the Charing Cross and Strand Electric Supply Company

A Respected Son of the Blenio Valley Dies

When Carlo Gatti died on September 6th, 1878 at his home town of Dongio, he was 61 years old. All his London establishments closed out of respect. He embodied the traditional immigrant’s desire for a new life through hard work, ingenuity and family loyalties.

Think of him on a hot summer’s day when you buy an ice cream!