Gelato is one of the best-loved Italian exports in the world: everyone knows it comes from Italy, but not many may be aware it is a product with a long history, intertwined with the very history of Italian cuisine. A common belief is that Marco Polo brought ice cream back to Italy from his adventures in China.

However, just like the story of his introduction of pasta to the country, there are problems with this story: if it is generally assumed that both China and ancient Persia were among the first cultures that developed a dessert made from fruit and either shaved ice or mountain snow, similar discoveries must have been made by numerous cultures that had access to ice and something sweet to add to it.