Gelato without borders

Gianni Riotta is the Pirelli Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of French and Italian, focusing on digital humanities, the social and visual history of Italy and machine writing, and Dean of the Master of Journalism and Digital Communication at Luiss University, Rome. He founded the Datalab at Luiss and leads the Italian Digital Media Observatory, national hub of the European Digital Media Observatory against disinformation, of whose Advisory Board he is a member. He is Executive Vice-president of the Council for the United States and Italy. He was previously a lecturer in Logic at the University of Palermo, professor of communication at the Bologna University Media Lab founded by Umberto Eco, and Visiting Professor at IMT Lucca. A columnist for La Repubblica, Foreign Policy and The Atlantic, he was Editor-in-Chief of TG1 Rai and Il Sole 24 Ore, Deputy Editor of La Stampa and Corriere della Sera, and New York correspondent for Corriere della Sera and L'Espresso. In 2015 he founded the digital start-up Catchy, awarded a grant by Google's Digital News Initiative to study the spread of false news. A permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Foreign Policy editorial board, he contributes to the BBC World Service; his op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Guardian, El País, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Foreign Affairs. His books have been translated into many languages: the novel Prince of the Clouds was a finalist for the Prix Médicis and won the European Florio Award 2002; Cambio di Stagione was included in the Meridiano Mondadori anthology of Italy's best short stories 1900-2000; his latest are Il web ci rende liberi? (Einaudi, 2013) and Il mondo di McCurry (Mondadori, 2015). Foreign Policy and Prospect ranked him among the world's 100 global thinkers. A graduate in Logic from the University of Palermo with an MS from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, he received an honorary degree from the Archivio di Stato in Rome in 2011 and was made Commendatore of the Italian Republic in 2014. He lives in New York and Rome.

Francesca Cavallo – Head of Business Unit Hospitality Exhibitions, Fiera Milano After gaining initial experience in the service sector, Francesca Cavallo has built her entire career at Fiera Milano, taking on roles of increasing responsibility. Following her early experience in the commercial department, she further developed her professional career by specializing in international business development, an area in which she has acquired extensive expertise. Fluent in three languages—English, French, and Spanish—she possesses outstanding interpersonal skills that have enabled her to establish and strengthen strategic relationships worldwide. Throughout her professional development, she has participated in a series of workshops, refining her leadership skills and demonstrating a natural ability to build and lead strong, cohesive teams, turning every challenge into an opportunity for collective growth. Determined and results-oriented, she combines a pragmatic managerial approach with a strong commitment to people, their potential, and the professional growth of her team. Today, she leads the Hospitality Exhibitions Division, overseeing Salone Franchising Milano and HostMilano, the world’s leading trade exhibition for the professional hospitality industry. She is also responsible for new international projects aimed at expanding Host’s global network, including Host Arabia in Riyadh and Host America in Orlando.

Sylvia Chao founded Mountain in Blue in 2018 in Lukang, Taiwan, where she personally oversees daily production. In 2025 she won the Procopio Cutò Prize with Luce d’Oolong, dedicated to the red oolong tea of Taitung, bringing the award to Taiwan for the first time. Her work champions growers and the training of new generations of Taiwanese gelato makers.

Giovanna Musumeci is a master gelato maker based in Randazzo, on the slopes of Mount Etna. She grew up in her family’s gelateria alongside her father, Santo, who has been in the business since 1967. After studying Economics at the University of Catania and completing a master’s degree in Marketing and Communication, she left the field of territorial development planning in 2010 to pursue a career as a gelato maker. She trained under master gelato maker Luca Caviezel and, in 2014, participated in the Sherbeth Festival competition on her own for the first time. In 2016, she received the Caviezel Award, dedicated to her mentor, followed in 2017 by the Foodies Challenge Award in the gelato category. Her creative exploration begins with flavour and gelato’s ability to convey emotions, experiences, and a sense of belonging. At Gelateria Santo Musumeci, awarded the prestigious Tre Coni (Three Cones) by Gambero Rosso, she interprets Sicilian ingredients and traditions through a contemporary perspective, while maintaining a deep connection to Randazzo and the Mount Etna region. Giovanna Musumeci has been a member of the Sherbeth Festival Technical Committee since 2018, coordinating the development and organisation of the festival’s programme of talks and cultural events.

Danilo Poggio is not only a professional journalist dealing with daily news as editor of a Piedmontese regional TV bulletin. He is also a food-and-wine enthusiast by descent, vocation and choice. A certified wine taster, he sits on the juries of wine and food competitions. For over 15 years he has talked about dishes and wine in print (Avvenire, La Cucina Italiana, Condé Nast Traveller), on radio (Radio Deejay and Radio Capital), on TV (Italia Uno, Rai Scuola and GRP Televisione) and at many live events around Italy — as his videos on Instagram, YouTube and the Spotify podcast I nuovi mosti show. Made a Knight of the Italian Republic for his passion in 'spreading the value of local territories', he loves to taste places, convinced that serious questions can only be asked at the table, and strictly after dessert. He returns to Sherbeth with boundless enthusiasm.