Passionate, curious and dedicated to his work: this is how the ice cream master and pastry chef Antonio Matteo, better known as Uccio, can be described.
Born in 1921, Antonio Matteo belonged to one of the Galician families of the "focari", that is, owners of firework factories.
In 1934 he became an ice cream confectioner, a job also carried out during the Second World War, serving as a cook.
La Mafalda, ice cream that has represented Galatina in the world for over half a century, was born from the skilled hands of Matteo who, drawing on his experience in Venezuela, in 1955 launched a fresh and delicious sweet made with chocolate, hazelnut in his pastry shop, cassata and crispy.
But where does such an unusual name come from for a sweet, on the contrary, very territorial in its tastes?
The inspiration for the young Antonio Matteo came from the street, in the literal sense of the term: every day, to go to work, he traveled by bicycle via Principessa Mafalda, today the shopping and nightlife street of Galatina.
During his life, Antonio Matteo has received prestigious awards including that of Knight of Malta ad Honorem, Knight of the Italian Republic, Commander of the Republic, Honorable to the World Parliament for Peace in the World, to name a few.
Today the tradition of his patisserie continues to live in the Matteo Café, a patisserie, ice cream parlor and pizzeria founded by Antonio Matteo's grandchildren to keep alive the memory of a great character who made the history of Galatese patisserie.
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