Italian Immigrant’s Dreams Become Sweet Reality
This is a story about a man and his gelato.
Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream, and ice cream is a hugely popular treat among Americans.
Gianluigi Dellaccio was born in Italy. He’s one of four kids.
His dad was a traveling insurance salesman, and his mom was a housewife.
“When I was 6 years old, I had this accident,” he explained. “And the accident put me in a position that I had to go swim to help my scoliosis.”
It wasn’t long before a water polo coach asked him to join the junior national team. He scored the game-winning goal at the championship game.
It landed him a spot on the national team and also taught him a valuable life lesson.
“All the strength, all the dedication that I put in the sport I choose to invest it in my own life,” he said.
Gianluigi chose to invest in gelato and introduce it to Americans.
He learned the business from his family in Germany, and later became a master gelatiere in Milan.
Gianluigi came to the U.S. in February 2000. He found work as a pastry chef at Galileo Restaurant here. The job helped put him on the path to permanent residency.
But then 9-11 happened. The immigration process slowed to a crawl.
Gianluigi had to wait six years to get his green card so that he could legally stay and work in the United States. During that time, he was not allowed to go home to see family and friends.
Finally, in 2006, he was able to open his gelato shop, Dolci Gelati.
He fixed up a Vespa, like the ones he’d had all his life, and he put a small trailer on the back.
He went door to door, from one restaurant to another, offering chefs tastes of his product.
The direct marketing worked. A decade later, Gianluigi now has two stores in the Washington area.
He’s also got a stand at Major League Baseball’s Nationals Park.
“Once you reach a goal, you need to put another target to keep going, because if you reach one goal and you settle, that’s the day that you go down,” he said.
