Solidarity has a sweet taste: at Sigep World 2026 – the international event dedicated to the Foodservice sector – the partners and promoters of the project “Gelato and pastry for solidarity” take stock of a journey that began in 2012 and has led to the opening of 13 gelato shops and pastry businesses in 7 countries (Italy, Haiti, Brazil, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Mozambique), as well as the launch of numerous training and social inclusion projects in Italy and Africa.

The initiative is promoted by the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation, in collaboration with NGOs and solidarity associations: Agape ETS and Gelarte; Cremedoce de Fronteira Ressano Garcia and Maputo (Mozambique); Vento di Terra Onlus; South Sudan Women Empowerment Project; Borgo Digani; and Casa Santa Chiara.

The goal is simple: to offer professional training pathways in gelato and pastry making to individuals selected by NGOs operating locally, with the aim of creating real businesses supported by solid business plans, enabling staff and entrepreneurs to enter, or in some cases re-enter, the job market.

 

Highlights for 2025–2026 include: the new “WorkAbility” training projects in Jordan, aimed at women in socio-economic vulnerability; the partnership with the residential community “Borgo Digani”; the advancement of the Cremedoce de Fronteira project in Mozambique, developed in close collaboration with Gelarte.

In addition, during the presentation at Sigep, new connections were established with Sudan and Agape Onlus for the potential development of projects in Congo, Tanzania and India, and once again with Agape Onlus for fundraising activities supporting the “Senza Etichetta” project, scheduled to be implemented in Italy in 2026.

 

Romano Verardi, President of the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation, opened the conference by welcoming participants and emphasizing how the Gelato and Pastry for solidarity projects have continued their journey despite the instability of international economic scenarios affected by the pandemic and war.

“The Foundation’s objective has always been to merge ethics with business practice in order to foster the creation of gelato production and retail activities that can represent stable sources of employment, even in contexts marked by hardship and poverty. This approach has shown steady and progressive growth. At the heart of this journey lies free training, both in-person and online, which is essential for job placement and the launch of new enterprises.”

 

Serena Baldini, President of Vento di Terra NGO, spoke about job inclusion projects in Jordan.

“The long-standing collaboration between Vento di Terra and the Carpigiani Foundation has given rise in Jordan, and also in Palestine, to projects that intertwine international cooperation with Italian entrepreneurial excellence. In Vento di Terra’s initiatives, the social gelato shop becomes a space for inclusion and development, based on the transfer of high-level skills and machinery to strengthen local and sustainable production systems.”

These systems focus on job inclusion for the most vulnerable groups and on solidarity mechanisms such as the ‘suspended gelato’ initiative (pay-it-forward gelato), ensuring access to a high-quality product for everyone.

“An integrated ecosystem that brings together education, training and social enterprise, generating jobs, dignity and new opportunities for the most vulnerable communities. Following the same principles, we are launching WorkAbility, a new job inclusion project in Jordan. Small systems for big change, where taste, culture and the economy become tools for social justice and peace.”

 

Lorenzo Vanini of Agape ETS shifted the focus to Africa and Italy.

“Projects such as Cremedoce de Fronteira in Mozambique, now evolved into Gelarte, have confirmed that gelato can be a powerful tool for inclusion, training and autonomy. The strength of these experiences, made possible by solid and targeted partnerships, is their replicability.”

This is how “Senza Etichetta” was conceived: a natural evolution of this model, aiming at opening a social gelato shop in Rome run by young people with disabilities and young people with a migrant backgrounds, developed in collaboration with Sinapsy Social Cooperative and Casamatta ETS, for which a fundraising campaign is currently underway.

 

Daniele Cintelli, representing the “Women Empowerment” project, explored initiatives dedicated to female job inclusion.

“The project was launched in South Sudan with the aim of starting an artisanal gelato school and a training gelato shop as tools for education and development.

 
The initiative integrates technical training, research into local raw materials, and entrepreneurial skills.”

Collaboration with Carpigiani is essential, as the company provides know-how and technology.

“The training pathway focuses on women’s empowerment and the creation of sustainable professional opportunities. The project aspires to become a benchmark model for artisanal gelato in East Africa.”

 

 

Development of the Network of Gelato and Pastry for Solidarity (2012–today):

 

2012-2016 First core project in São Paulo (Brazil) with the creation of Gelato que Nectar on 28 February 2016, managed by the Father Leo Commissari Association to support children from the favelas.

 

2012 Training begins for 14 young people from the Francesca Rava Foundation at Carpigiani Gelato University, aiming to open the first solidarity gelato shop in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

 

2014-2015 Cairo Social Gelato Shop in Maadi with the Egyptian NGO Eaqfeyat Al Maadi Community Foundation. Opened in 2015 and closed in 2017; reopening in another area of Cairo is under consideration.

 

2016–2017 A redevelopment project in Milan is launched in disadvantaged areas developed with the Casa della Carità Don Angelo Abriani Foundation, which led to the creation of the "Ero straniero" Social Bar Gelateria.

 

2016–2018 These are the years leading up to the opening of the first Dolce Positivo store in Vigevano, with the goal of offering concrete employment opportunities to people with intellectual disabilities. This goal was achieved, so much so that a second store was opened in Vigevano in 2022.

 

2018 A training course dedicated to gelato making for Syrian and Jordanian women begins in Amman, Jordan, with Vento di Terra Onlus and funding from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. The Dolce Futuro Social Gelato Shop is founded.

 

2017-2019 Projects move to Africa, specifically to Mozambique, with the launch of Cremedoce de Fronteira in the town of Ressano Garcia, on the border with South Africa. Here, the NGO Agape Onlus, in collaboration with the Scalabrinian Sisters, creates a professional training program dedicated to pastry making and gelato making. This program culminates in the opening of a store for production and sales to the nearby tourist-oriented towns along the seafront. A second store will open in the capital in 2023, called Cremedoce de Maputo Capital.

 

2017 – 2019 Two years of collaboration with Vento di Terra NGO led to the opening of Gelato di Gaza in Palestine. A way to support young Palestinians and improve job opportunities in a sustainable start-up.

 

2019 Return to Italy, Naples, where the Gelateria Sociale Cremeria Capodimonte was inaugurated in the Capodimonte neighborhood. The goal of this initiative is to create jobs and enhance the local community, in collaboration with Officina dei Talenti Onlus and Amici Casa della Carità Onlus.

 

2022 – Opening of the second Dolce Positivo store in Vigevano.

 

2023 – Opening of Cremedoce de Maputo Capital in Mozambique and Gelateria dei Campioni in Borgatella di San Lazzaro (Bologna), promoted by Campus dei Campioni, a location surrounded by nature available to nonprofit organizations for training and recreational activities, sponsored by the Engineering Group.

 

2024 – Training project in Jordan for Syrian and Jordanian women in socioeconomic vulnerability, organized in collaboration with Progetto Vento di Terra – Italian Cooperation and the Princess Taghrid Institute for Training and Development (PTI).

 

2024 – Cremedoce de Fronteira project (Mozambique): relocation of the store from Ressano Garcia to the tourist area of ​​Maputo for greater public engagement and expansion of the project in Congo. In collaboration with Agape ONLUS.

 

 2024 – Podere Santa Croce – Borgo Digani: A social inclusion and environmental protection project aimed at younger generations and their families.

 

2024-2025 - Mozambique – AGAPE and GELARTE Collaboration

In Maputo, Mozambique, AGAPE is collaborating with the GELARTE gelateria, led by Alberto Giani, a restaurant professional who combines high-level technical expertise with a strong commitment to the nonprofit sector.

 

The project aims to provide professional training to young men and women from the communities where AGAPE operates, creating concrete job opportunities and encouraging the expansion of the business with new positions.

2025 - South Sudan – Gelato School for Women's Empowerment

The "Gelato School for Women's Empowerment" project was created to address the serious socioeconomic challenges facing women in South Sudan, offering them a concrete opportunity for professional training and economic independence. The initiative involves the creation of an artisanal gelato school in Juba.

 

2025 – Italy – PizzAut

What better pairing than pizza and gelato? This is what Nico Acampora, founder of PizzAut, thought when he decided to include delicious gelato sundaes on the menus of his two restaurants in Lombardy, using a simple, replicable system that would also be suitable for the special young people involved in the PizzAut project.

 

2025 – 2026 - Rome Project “Senza Etichetta – Gelateria Sociale”

The Rome social gelato shop project “Without Label” is a collaboration between AGAPE, the Sinapsy Cooperative, the Italian Buddhist Union, and the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation, with the support of the City of Rome and the Municipios II and III. The initiative involves the creation of a kiosk or social gelato shop in strategic urban areas, such as Villa Ada or the Via Chiana area, with the aim of promoting social inclusion, job placement for young migrants and people with disabilities, vocational training, and urban redevelopment.

 

2025-2026 – Jordan – “WorkAbility” Project

Vento di Terra Onlus's new job inclusion project in Jordan: an international cooperation initiative that aims to strengthen professional skills and support the private sector to improve the employability and job inclusion of young people, vulnerable women, and people with disabilities in the country.