ristorazione — Houthalen-Helchteren · Fiandre
In Belgian Limburg, where summers are short and precious, a family-run gelato shop has kept faith for over half a century with a simple promise: artisan gelato made fresh every day, following a recipe that still bears the name of the man who created it.
Since 1966 the door at Wolfsdal 35 has opened onto a family story that Houthalen-Helchteren knows by heart. Luigi Rossi founded his gelato shop here, and ever since, three generations have passed down the same care from hand to hand: the care of someone who makes gelato every morning as if it were the first time.
The counter is the heart of the house: this is where the versbereid (freshly made) gelato meets the customer, prepared that same day, following the Italian-Belgian recipe the family has kept for sixty years. Among the flavours on display, gluten-free options also have their place, so that no one has to miss out on this stop.
Behind the counter, in the workshop expanded in the 1980s by Fausto and Chantal, the gelato takes shape every day with fresh farm milk and unchanged artisan methods. This is not industrial production: it is a daily gesture repeated with the same discipline that turned a small gelato shop into a local icon.
Three generations, one recipe, sixty years of loyalty to the craft: the page tells the rest of the story.
