Camping vacations in Italy have left a lasting impression on our childhood. We can still picture it: somewhere between Livorno and Follonica, a small town by the sea. Year after year the same. On the piazza, the boys ride their Vespas, rain or shine. The older men loudly exclaim about the Christian Democrats or the Communists. Women, dressed stylishly or in black, stand around the fountain with their purchases. At the center of this scene, the gelateria.
The memory of the happiness felt standing in front of the gelato showcase and being able to choose any flavor for a thousand lira drove us, Susanna Moor, and the three brothers: Michael, David and Hansmartin Amrein. We learned the craft from the best gelaterias in Verona. We started out in a disused cheese dairy at the foot of the Belpberg. In the fall of 2010, we opened the gelateria on Mittelstrasse, which we had remodeled mostly ourselves. The pedestrian zone in front of it has turned into something like a piazza. In 2013 we ventured into the Marzili where Bern celebrates summer. Since 2014, we’ve been bringing a taste of the south to the north of Bern in Breitenrain. Soon after, we created our own version of neighborhood pizza style meeting place at Cäcilienplatz, with our fourth Laboratorio in 2016. Because David had been living in Züri for a long time and always wanted a “Gela” within walking distance for his boys, we converted an old car garage at Brupbacherplatz into a Laboratorio in 2017. In 2019, we were offered a shipping container in the colorful paradise garden of Mrs. Gerold. We didn’t hesitate for long. Similarly, we didn’t take long to consider the idea of opening in a small, fine market hall in the Zollhaus together with the Kalkbreite housing cooperative. That’s why Gelateria di Berna now exists in three versions in “Bern East”. In August 2021, we took a leap down the Aare to the Rhine in Kleinbasel’s “Matthäusquartier”. A vacancy on Offenburgstrasse was converted in record time into the most radical Gelateria di Berna. The architecture highlights our concentration and focus on our product: gelati and sorbetti creations.
We hope that we, in turn, will remain as a memory for generations of children to come.
