Gelato Festival World Masters, the international competition that has been touring the world since 2017 in search of the best flavors of gelato, is headed towards the long-awaited World Finals with 5 European qualifying rounds that will involve 59 gelato shops in 17 countries. The event, which despite the pause due to the pandemic has succeeded in making the flavors of over 2500 gelato artisans known to the public, is organized in collaboration with Carpigiani Gelato University, the international gelato school with 20 campuses in 19 countries worldwide, and Sigep, the most important professional trade show in the world dedicated to artisanal gelato and confectionery, organized by the Italian Exhibition Group.

Here is the calendar of upcoming events:
-    June 29, the finals for SPAIN with 9 gelato shops competing, the top two qualifying for the world finals.
-    July 6, the finals for the UNITED KINGDOM with 6 gelato shops competing, the top two qualifying for the world finals.
-    July 6, the finals for AUSTRIA with 6 gelato shops competing, the winner qualifying for the world finals.
-    July 8, the finals for POLAND with 8 gelato shops competing, the winner qualifying for the world finals.
-    July 13-14, the finals for the REST OF EUROPE AND MEDITERRANEAN AREA with 30 gelato shops from Germany (3 representatives), Belgium (5), Bulgaria (1), Croatia (2), Greece (2), Israel (1), Morocco (1), Norway (1), the Netherlands (6), Portugal (1), the Czech Republic (3), Sweden (2), and Hungary (2). Three will continue from this stage to the world finals.
The venue for all five stages will be the Gelato Museum in Anzola Emilia, Bologna, Italy, the first in the world dedicated to the social and technological history of artisanal gelato. The innovative “hybrid" organization will make it possible to conduct the events safely: 
-    The gelato artisans will send the mixes and ingredients for the decoration and variegation of the flavor in special refrigerated shipments.
-    The instructors of Carpigiani Gelato University will make the gelato under the supervision of the competitors, who will have a live video connection with the production area.
-    A jury of professionals from the Gelato World Cup Committee will evaluate the flavor during a real-time conference with the gelato artisan.
-    Broadcasting from their own gelato shops, the artisans will offer a detailed description of their flavors, recounting the origins of their ideas, how the ingredients were selected, and why they wanted to submit it to the competition.

The work of the judges for each of the stages will be streamed on the Gelato Festival Europe Facebook page and on the Gelato Festival YouTube channel.
With regard to Italy, the second semi-final with 76 gelato artisans will take place in September 2021. The Italian Finals with sixteen participants is scheduled for October 2021. The World Finals will be held in December 2021. Media partners of the European Finals: Punto IT, Food Professional Network, Gelato Artigianale, Tutto Gelato, Arte Heladero, Przegląd Piekarski i Cukierniczy. 

The Gelato Festival debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by the creation of the first gelato recipe by the versatile architect Bernardo Buontalenti in 1559. Since then, the event has expanded its borders, first to the rest of Italy, then to Europe and – starting in 2017 – the United States, with a total of 64 Festivals held, before embracing the entire planet with the world championship of Gelato Festival World Masters 2021.