We all scream for (Camplone) ice cream!

One of the most nonsensical (and funniest) scenes from Jim Jarmusch’s movie Down by Law (Daunbailò for Italian cinema lovers) is when our Oscar-winning director Roberto Benigni takes his notebook out of his pocket (it was an actual notebook, not a computer!) and gets confused between scream and ice cream.

He, Tom Waits and John Lurie repeat “I scream, you scream, we all scream for an ice icream” ad lib, until prison guards come to their cell and… This is a movie to be watched at least once in a lifetime.

Anyway, this scene came to my mind when I was invited at Fabrizio Camplone’s ice cream testing about a fortnight ago. And believe me, I was screaming my head off with pleasure. Literally. In my humble opinion, there is nothing more delectable, fulfilling, satisfying and enjoyable than gelato. To me, it is the food version of Oscar Wilde’s definition of cigarette: “the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?“

To be honest, Camplone’s ice cream leaves you extremely satisfied, because when you taste one of his thirty flavours (yes, thirty), you clearly feel the passion that Maestro Pasticcere Fabrizio Camplone puts in his job. And all the excellent ingredients he puts into his ice cream.

After high school diploma, Fabrizio decided to follow his father Tullio’s steps, but Tullio sent him right away to Paris at Lenotre, and in Milan, the most “European” city in Italy. In the mid 80s, Fabrizio and his wife Antonella opened “Caprice” and since then the elegant place in Piazza Garibaldi 29 in Pescara is a must-visit-eat-drink for everyone who is in town for business, vacation or whatever. As regards his ice cream flavours, Maestro Camplone’s idea is very simple:he translates the traditional cakes into ice cream.

Some attempts have been made in the past (Tiramisu ice cream is quite popular all around Italy) but a thorough and regular study on regional cakes have been carried out only by Maestro Camplone, who, sick and tired of the “unconventional” flavours that were launched in the 90s – one for all, the unpalatable “gelato al puffo” (literally “smurf”-flavoured ice cream; actually, a taste abomination) – decided to go back to square one and use the many excellent raw materials Abruzzo can offer.
The first idea Maestro Campone had was Pecorino cheese and acacia honey. Pecorino strong flavor perfectly matches the sweetness of the acacia honey and the cream, not to mention the delicious feeling of tiny cheese crumbles between your tongue and your palate. This daring match between savory and sweet was a sort of forerunner for many more Abruzzese excellence-based flavors. Would you like to taste them all? Stay tuned!

Some of the most peculiar ice cream flavours at Camplone’s