Carlo Gatti
An incredible story
From Ticino to Paris London
The story of Carlo Gatti and Casa Gatti
Carlo Gatti was one of the most fascinating Ticino entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century. Its history combines emigration, restaurants, chocolate, ice cream and the import of ice between Dongio and London. Today, at Casa Gatti, this legacy lives on in a place where hospitality and the table are still at the center of everything.
1817 · Birth in the Blenio Valley
Carlo Gatti was born in 1817 in Marogno, near Dongio, in the Blenio Valley. His story begins here, in a valley characterized by emigration and work, from which he left when he was still very young in search of opportunities outside Switzerland.
1830 · The first steps in Paris
Still almost a child, he emigrated to Paris, where he began to carry out menial jobs, including that of a street vendor. Those early years were hard, but they marked the beginning of an entrepreneurial mindset based on observation, commitment, and the ability to see opportunities where others saw only need.
1847 · Arrival in London
In the mid-nineteenth century, Carlo Gatti moved to London, a city in full transformation. There he began with small street businesses, selling coffee, chestnuts and other popular products, in direct contact with urban life and with a large and diversified clientele.
1849–1850 · The first cafes and restaurants
Shortly after, he opened his first restaurants, linked to catering and pastry. Carlo Gatti understood very early on that it was not enough to sell a product: it was necessary to create an attractive, modern and accessible place, where people wanted to enter, stop and have fun. So he began to build his success in the world of cafes and restaurants.
1850 · Chocolate and ice cream for a new city
In his shops he introduced chocolate and soon also ice cream, two products that at the time were still quite exclusive. His great intuition was to make them more visible, more attractive and more popular. In particular, ice cream became one of its great symbols: Carlo Gatti helped to make it known to the general London public and to transform it into an urban pleasure within the reach of many.
1851 · Success at Hungerford Market
At Hungerford Market, one of London’s great retail spaces, his shops gained great notoriety. There he offered ice cream, drinks, sweets and coffee products in a lively and modern environment. His name began to be associated with a new way of consuming in the city: more dynamic, more open and more contemporary.
The 50s · Ice cream as a big business
What was initially a novelty turned into a real commercial revolution. Carlo Gatti understood that ice cream was not only a luxury product, but also a business with enormous potential if it could be produced, stored and distributed well. This vision, as simple as it was brilliant, was one of the keys to his success.
Since 1857 · Importing ice
To support this activity, Carlo Gatti took a decisive step: to develop the import of ice on a large scale. He built large ice warehouses in London and organized a distribution system that allowed him to supply his premises and other businesses as well. Ice became not just a medium for ice cream, but a business in its own right.
1860 · Ice from Norway to London
One of the most innovative aspects of his business was the import of natural ice from Norway. Through ships, canals and warehouses, the ice arrived in London to be used in catering, storage and service. It was a modern and ambitious operation, which demonstrates the extent to which Carlo Gatti was able to combine gastronomy, logistics and entrepreneurial vision.
1850 - 1860 · Catering, leisure and social life
In time, his business went far beyond coffee and ice cream. Carlo Gatti expanded his activity to meet and leisure spaces, including halls and music halls that were part of London’s social life. His name remained linked not only to food and drink, but also to a modern way of understanding hospitality and entertainment.
1860 - 1971
The houses of the Gatti family in Marogno date back to 1860. Carlo Gatti finally returned to Ticino in 1871, after a brilliant entrepreneurial career in London.
News
After more than 150 years, history has not stopped, but continues to live on in our business and in our home.
Our homemade ice creams and sorbets, prepared at home and included in our menus, are also born from that invisible thread that unites past and present.
They are a tribute to Carlo Gatti, a pioneer of ice cream in London, and at the same time a delicate and sincere way to remember the origins of this house. A small gesture that transforms memory into flavor and keeps alive, even today, the entrepreneurial and visionary spirit of the Gatti family.