‘Can you taste the summer?’ sang Duran Duran, no doubt dreaming of ice cream. Soft serve, sunshine and Simon Le Bon (singing from a retro jukebox) aren’t the only delights dished out at Morelli’s gelateria in Broadstairs, Kent. This parlour on Victoria Parade serves up a strawberry-and-vanilla-themed Art Deco interior, created in the 1950s by father-and-son team Giuseppe and Marino Morelli, and preserved as a feast for the eyes by the latest family member to crack the perfect recipe for a cream whip.
‘It was a child’s dream,’ says Bibi Morelli Schofield about growing up in the parlour. ‘In the mornings before school, I would run down to the factory where my father, Marino, and his team would be making fresh ice cream every day. I wasn’t much bigger than the rubber boots they used to wear in the lab. I remember most fondly the sweet smell of milk and cream and sugar. And getting a vanilla soft serve in a cone with a Flake after school every day.’
Bibi’s family history – and so, the history of the Broadstairs parlour – begins in Italy. In the late 1800s, Giuseppe Morelli, Bibi’s great-great-grandfather, walked out of the Casalattico region just north of Naples to seek his fortune, and started making ice cream. Establishing a business in 1907, he sent his children out on bicycles to sell the handmade sweet treats locally. Sadly, Giuseppe died young; his son, Mario, picked up the baton, moving to Glasgow for some time before relocating to Broadstairs in 1932, where he opened Morelli’s ice-cream parlour in a small shop overlooking Viking Bay. ‘It was tiny until my grandfather expanded the shop, more than doubling the size, and refurbished it in 1957 in the same style it’s in today,’ says Bibi.
On a rose-tinted terrazzo floor, laid by Marino in a nod to his Italian heritage, stands a soda fountain spilling over with flowers. Pink leatherette booths and circular chrome tables are surrounded by a liberal sprinkling of classic white Lloyd Loom chairs, beneath a flying canopy shaped like a soft-serve swirl. It’s the smaller details that are most delightful, though: the colourless patches on the tables where years of patrons’ propped-up elbows have worn smooth the Formica; the brass sconces and door handles in the shape of ice-cream cones; the black-and-white pictures of the parlour over the years and the certificates for award-winning flavours behind the counter; a framed piece of the original wallpaper featuring a traditional Tuscan scene.
The reason for retaining the period features was both aesthetic and sentimental. ‘Probably more sentimental than anything,’ admits Bibi. ‘It was redesigned in the 50s by my grandfather, whom we all adored, and then preserved and enhanced by my father. Every detail represents someone’s effort and sacrifice, inspiration and pride… Customers love that year upon year, when they visit with their own grandchildren, there is timeless quality that takes them back to their own childhood. In a world of constant change, there is something reassuring about a nostalgically familiar and original place.’
As much as she loved being in the parlour as a child, Bibi didn’t see herself taking over the business. ‘Nothing was further from my mind,’ she says. After studying law at King’s and completing a masters at Georgetown, she took the bar in New York and became a lawyer at Clifford Chance, working in London, Madrid and Milan. ‘All that studying to choose this path,’ she says, laughing. ‘It sometimes amuses me, but each stage of life truly enriches the next and I am very grateful for the experiences and decisions that brought me back to the family business where I hope to also leave my mark.’
On this front, Bibi has decided to follow tradition. From the back of bicycles in Italy, Morelli’s has over the years seen parlours open in Harrods, Selfridges and Café de Paris in Monte Carlo. This year, Bibi has expanded the brand to even more distant shores: a Morelli’s branch will be opening in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. ‘Ice cream makes people happy, especially great ice cream,’ says Bibi. That doesn’t change, no matter where you are in the world. And so it ever was.
Morelli’s, 14 Victoria Parade, Broadstairs. For more details, visit morellisgelato.com
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