Isalon am Schwedenplatz attracts 5,000 customers daily
Italian ice cream in Vienna..a rich heritage since 1886
Each Austrian consumes about eight liters of ice cream annually.
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From 10 am, the first customers begin to flock to the store Silvio Mullen-Pradel, whose family has been selling Italian ice cream since 1886 in Vienna, and where this food has been in vogue since the times of the empire.
The man who inherited a real family empire, while overseeing the still handmade work in the shop, explains that the ice cream should be "in pale pastel colors, and this is a guarantee of quality."
The old-fashioned shop Isalon am Schwedenplatz is located in a leafy square in the city center and is always bustling.
The store attracts 5,000 customers daily for several months.
In Austria, which has a population of less than nine million, no less than 367 ice cream makers share an annual revenue of 100 million euros.
Each Austrian consumes about eight liters of ice cream a year, which is equivalent to 21 cups of three scoops each, more than in Italy, where Italians only eat six liters.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the first countries and regions where Italian ice cream spread outside its origin, before it invaded all of Europe.
A cross-generational craft
The story begins with the migration of many inhabitants of the Zoldo Valley in the Italian Alps, like Arcangelo Molin-Pradel, Silvio's great-grandfather, to escape poverty.
Thanks to a Sicilian man, his brother had learned how to make ice cream on a boat, and he passed on his technical know-how, and he came up with the idea to sell this food while wandering the great Prater amusement park in Vienna.
His village belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1806 and 1866, and he was familiar with Viennese's passion for beet sugar pastries.
Silvio Mullen-Pradel, with his elegant clothes and white hair, says that his grandfather contributed to "the generalization of ice cream to various social groups after it was limited to the affluent."
Italian ice cream made with water, rather than expensive fresh milk, was a convenient option for members of the working classes.
At the turn of the 20th century, gelato makers gained the right to open physical stores in Vienna, gradually attracting hundreds and then thousands of Italians, some of whom made their way to neighboring Germany.
secret recipes
“These salons operated in the summer, while the men went home in the winter,” says historian Maren Moring.
Even when the women joined them later, the sons stayed in the country with the grandparents.”
For decades, the season ended at the beginning of August, due to a lack of raw materials, such as fresh fruit.
Everyone had to return to Zoldo by the 15th.
The hay had to be made, and the first snows prepared.
Even today, Silvio Mullen-Pradel still takes the road to Zoldo, a six-hour drive from Vienna.
The trader says he needs this freedom of movement and the winter break to rejuvenate the business.
"The ice cream makers in northern Italy were keen to preserve the quality of their skills, which explains their success," Maren Moring asserts, adding: "The recipes are often secret and passed on from one family to another."
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