When you hear about some of the best gelato in the world, you expect it to come from somewhere like Palermo or Florence. Not, as it happens, Leicester. But that’s what Antonio De Vecchi – an alumnus of Italy’s Carpigiani Gelato University – and Daniele Taverna have achieved in Gelato Village. Locals are very much smitten with their dense, creamy, and luxurious gelato made from the milk and cream of local rare breed Red Poll cattle.
This goes for one flavour in particular. As you may recall, in 2012 King Richard III’s remains were found in what is now the staff car park of Leicester City Council, a mere eighty metres from the gelateria. Naturally, Antonio and Daniele came up with a dish inspired by the whole furore.
‘We add an infusion of rose blossom,’ says Antonio, ‘which represents the white rose of the House of York – King Richard's family. To that we run through a homemade fruit of the forest ripple, which is a nod to the bloody Battle of Bosworth in which Richard lost his life in 1485. It has become a firm favourite in Leicester and is one of the few gelati that we make year round.’
2 Saint Martins Square, Leicester, LE1 5DF. gelatovillage.co.uk