Gelateria Coccato
Italian ice cream in Bremerhaven and Rostock
The Coccato family tradition
Back in 1960, Vasco Coccato opened his first ice cream parlour in Castrop-Rauxel together with his family. Since 1971 the business he founded has been run by his sons — with the aim of preserving old traditions without closing themselves off to the present. The passion for fine ice cream and for hospitality has been passed down the family, and today the next generation is already devoting itself to making ice cream.
In 1982 Nerino Coccato continued the tradition and opened his first parlour, “Venezia”, in the Columbus-Center in Bremerhaven. Further parlours followed over the years. Today you will find us at the Gelateria Coccato on Am Längengrad 12 in Bremerhaven and at Eiscafé Milano in Rostock.
It is not only Nerino: his wife Anna-Maria, his daughter Melania and his son Marco are all part of the business. Melania, who joined the family firm in 2005 after studying biology in Venice, speaks of a bond with hospitality formed in childhood. Like their father and their uncle Gabriele before them, she and her brother grew up with the ice cream counter, the shop and the workshop.
The Coccato family combines traditional recipes with new, creative variations. Alongside classics such as stracciatella, vanilla and chocolate, changing flavours like cinnamon-fig, baked apple or whisky cream come as a surprise. House-made crêpes, waffles, tiramisù and sandwiches round off the offer, and our trained, friendly staff make sure every guest feels welcome.
Quality is not the only thing that matters — the atmosphere counts just as much. Nerino Coccato designs his cafés with great attention to detail, creating comfortable places to meet. At Christmas the family brings Italian and German traditions together: on Christmas Eve everyone gathers, celebrates with the staff and enjoys panettone, the fine Italian cake that brings memories of home.
After more than forty years in Bremerhaven, Nerino Coccato has not tired of passing on his passion. Together with his son Marco he works on new creations that join a sense of tradition with modern tastes.
We, the Coccato family and the team, look forward to your visit and will do our very best to make you feel at home. We always have an open ear for any suggestion or criticism.
A short history of ice cream
Ice cream is no modern invention. It goes back some 3000 years before Christ, though on a very different basis: glacier ice or snow was usually flavoured with fruit pulp, rose water, violets, cinnamon or honey. Back then, only the highest ranks were allowed to enjoy it.
The ancient Romans and Greeks also appreciated iced and half-frozen drinks. Those refreshments cannot be compared with today's products, but they are the origin of the delicacy. In the 16th century Tuscan ice makers — among them Bernardo Buontalenti — were the first to produce ice cream in the form we know today. The first ice cream parlour opened in 1651.
We owe the beginning of ice cream's worldwide fame to the French royal court and to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Once it had crossed the Alps to the north, it did not take long for ice cream to be known and enjoyed throughout central Europe, the Balkans and the Slavic countries. At the end of the 18th century the Germans discovered it as a delicacy.
Today there are countless ice cream makers and an enormous variety of flavours. Every maker guards their own recipes closely. In Germany, production must follow the Speiseeisverordnung, the regulation that defines the different qualities of ice cream precisely.
A look inside
In our parlour
