texts by Marcello Cardillo

Sparkling Pignoletto-flavored ice cream, served at “Freskura”, Seville’s ice cream parlor proposing particular flavors from Emilia, an Italian region

In Seville, south of Spain, a meeting point for tourists and flamenco fans, Freskura is now a synonim for Italian ice-cream (www.freskura.com). This ice-cream parlor, 100% Italian, was opened three years ago by four guys from Modena (Italy), two of them living at present in the Andalusian capital, Alberto Franchini, Elena Benedetti, Luca Borsari and Franco Casini. They were able to win over the Spaniards’ approval, experimenting new textures and ice-cream combinations, blending the fresh fruit from the Mercado de Calle Feria with the traditional flavours of Emilia, their native region

Chocolate salami, a specialty from “Freskura”, Seville’s ice cream parlor where you can also find sweets, sherbets and mousses with particular flavors from Modena

At Freskura you can try crushed-ice drinks, popsicles, Lambrusco-flavored sherbets (Lambrusco is a sweet red wine from Emilia, highly regarded in Spain) and, if you want to experience something really special, ice-cream with drops of traditional balsamic vinegar (aged 25 years) from Modena, an Italian Dop product (Denomination of Protected Origin). In wintertime, you can taste chocolate salami and nocino-flavored mousse (Nocino is a liqueur made of walnut green husk from Modena). Other specialties are: sparkling Pignoletto-flavored ice-cream, a mix of sandìa (watermelon) and melon, called Sandrone from a Modena Carnival mask and the Barozzi chocolate and coffee cake, a typical cake from the town of Vignola, a small village close to Modena. The choice in flavors reflects the seasonal fresh fruit production: chestnuts in wintertime, kaki in February, paraguayo and figs between May and June. The ice-cream parlor’s excellent location in a square, Alameda de Hercules, a few steps away from the central calle Sierpes and perfect for strolling around, enjoying your ice-cream. Recently, Alameda has been upgraded in the new city planning and it has become a centre for the movida, with a wide choice of clubs, restaurants, cafés and tapas bars. Before the arrival in town of the four Italians from Modena, there were no ice-cream parlors. But now, their success has been so big that they are thinking of opening new ones in other Spanish cities.

Display counter at “Freskura” in Seville. This ice-cream parlor, run by four guys from Modena, serves ice cream and sherbets, with particular flavors from their region: Lambrusco, sparkling Pignoletto and traditional balsamic vinegar.

Strawberry and wild fruit ice cream with Modena Dop traditional balsamic vinegar (aged 25 years)

Freskura wants to offer traditional-made Italian ice-cream in a trendy space. At the entrance, you are welcomed by a giant black and white poster representing the Sixties "dolce vita", a positive and celebrated idea of Italy. The main window’s essential shape and vintage-style colored walls create a bright, warm space, on the same wavelenght as the new Alameda atmosphere. Italian taste and style can be seen everywhere: lights are by Ideal of Esedra and the ice-cream display window is by Bocchini. This window is 6 meters long and shows ice-cream in different tastes to be eaten in cones or paper cups, "semifreddi” (Italian soft ice-cream), ice-cream cakes and, in wintertime, mousses, fruit-jellies and traditional cakes. Interiors were designed by London Studio Ran (www.studioran.co.uk) with 40 square meters reserved for customers, a 60-square meter area where ice-cream is made, with three portholes overlooking the counter and another wide window facing calle Sierpes.