Carlo Gatti (1817–1878) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

-born British restaurateur in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. He came to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1847, where he established restaurants and an ice importing business. He is credited with first making

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

available to the general public and he then moved into the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

business. He returned to Switzerland in 1871, leaving his businesses in the hands of members of his family and he died a millionaire. Gatti originated in Canton Ticino, the main Italian-speaking area of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He was probably born in Marogno, a village within the comune of Dongio in the impoverished and sparsely populated Blenio District , where he also ended his days. He was the youngest of a family of six, and his parents were Stefano and Apollonia.

Success in London

Carlo had moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

by 1847 at the latest, and initially lived in the Italian community in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

. At first, he ran a stall selling

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened Batter (cooking), batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron ...

s and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

s. In 1849, he began to run a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

and

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

with partners. They specialised in selling

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

and ice cream. They put a chocolate-making machine in the window to attract business, and took ice for the ice cream from Regent's Canal under a contract with the Regent's Canal Company. Their shop was the first to sell ice cream to the public; previously, ice cream was an expensive treat confined to rich people with access to an ice house. Gatti exhibited his chocolate-making machine, imported from France, at the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

in 1851. Also in 1851, Gatti opened a stand in Hungerford Market, near

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

, to sell confectionery and cakes, hot coffee, cold soft drinks and ice cream., A portion of ice cream was sold for one penny served in a shell, perhaps the origin of the penny lick. Gatti built a large ice warehouse, capable of storing tons of ice in two large ice wells, in the Battlebridge Basin off the Regent's Canal, near King's Cross. He began importing ice from

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from around 1860, shipping the ice from Norway, up the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, then transferring it to canal barges at the Regent's Canal Dock (today the Limehouse Basin) and via the canal to his ice warehouse. Starting with a single ice well in 1857, he built a second ice well around 1862, and became the largest ice importer in London. Today the ice warehouse houses the London Canal Museum. He began to run a fleet of delivery carts, supplying ice for domestic iceboxes. Hungerford Market was damaged when the adjoining Hungerford Hall burned down in 1854, but Gatti was insured, and used the proceeds to build a music hall, known as Gatti's, which opened in 1857. He sold the music hall to South Eastern Railway in 1862, and the site became

Charing Cross railway station Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a London station group, central London railway terminus between the Strand, London, Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South ...

With the proceeds from selling his first music hall, Gatti acquired a restaurant in Westminster Bridge Road, opposite the Canterbury Music Hall. He converted the restaurant into a second Gatti's music hall, known as "Gatti's-in-the-Road", in 1865. It later became a cinema. The building was badly damaged in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was demolished in 1950. In 1867, he acquired a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

in Villiers Street named "The Arches", under the arches of the elevated railway line leading to Charing Cross station. He opened it as another music hall, known as " Gatti's-in-The-Arches". Members of his family were involved in his businesses, and he spent most of his time in Switzerland after 1871.

Family

In 1839 Carlo was married to Maria Marioni, by his eldest brother Giacomo, the priest at Castro. In 1871 he married a second wife (Marietta Andreazzi, allegedly aged 23).

Death

He died on 8 September 1878. He is buried in Bellinzona (Switzerland), not far from his home valley. According to food writer

Elizabeth David Elizabeth David ( Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about Europea ...

, 'the ice business that he had set up endured and continued to expand for almost a century'. His family continued to operate the Charing Cross music hall, known for a period after Gatti's death as the Hungerford or Gatti's Hungerford Palace of Varieties. It became a cinema in 1910, and the

Players' Theatre The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of Worl ...

in 1946.

References

External links

Gatti's music halls

London Canal Museum

Photos of Gatti's Tomb on Pinterest

Bill posters
from Gatti's Music Hall, from the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatti, Carlo 1817 births 1878 deaths 19th-century British businesspeople British businesspeople in shipping British people of Italian descent British restaurateurs Businesspeople from the London Borough of Islington Ice cream People from Ticino Swiss emigrants to the United Kingdom Swiss-Italian people People from Clerkenwell

Success in London

Family

Death

See also

References

External links