Greece’s 3 Best Gelato Artisans of 2025 Head to the European Finals

The Greek path in Gelato Festival World Masters has concluded. With the last three participants chosen at the final Challenge, the list of Greek finalists is complete. These artisans will represent Greece in the next phases of the 2022 to 2025 championship, run with partners Carpigiani and Sigep by Italian Exhibition Group. The travelling competition had stopped in Greece in 2023 and 2024, and returned for a third year, with nine gelato artisans competing in Athens on September 23.

The winners

• 1st place: Ioannis Pechlivanidis, “Elite”, Elassona, with “Strachiattella Almond”, an almond gelato variegated with almond praline and caramelised almonds.
• 2nd place: Odysseas Skoutelis, “I Scream”, Kefalonia, with “Pistachio & Raspberry”, a pistachio gelato with raspberry cream and pistachio crumble.
• 3rd place: Dimitris Chatiras, “Insane Gelato”, Korinthos, with “Uva e Sole (Wine and Raisins)”, a gelato made with Malagouzia wine from Nemea and Vostitsa, Corinthian raisins.

The three will compete in the Greek Finals of Gelato Festival World Masters at the Carpigiani headquarters in Italy on October 30 and 31, 2025. Entries were scored on flavour, structure, creativity and presentation, looking at ingredient choice, the craft behind the recipe and the visual impact of the gelato.

The jury and other participants

The jury was Stefanos Sbonias (Pastry Chef at Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Luxury Collection hotel, Athens), Panagiotis Xigos (Foodservice Management Consultant at Sklavenitis) and Frantzeskos Sozos (Head Executive Pastry Chef of Pastry & Bakery Productions at Sklavenitis).

The other participants were:

• Zalina Albegova, “The Milky Way”, Mykonos: “Olympus Kiss”
• Kyriaki Biniari, “Theros Gelato”, Korinthos: “Yogurt & Honey”
• Panagiotis Bobas, “Iter del Gusto”, Athens: “Tiramisu with Pistachio from Aigina”
• Giorgos Kostyakis, Athens: “Zabaione Vinsanto with Cantucci Biscotti”
• Ioanna Palamari, “La Mure”, Athens: “Halvas with orange marmalade”
• Anastasis Vomvylas, “Fellini Gelato Artigianale”, Rhodes: “Traditional Greek Walnut Pie”

About Gelato Festival

Gelato Festival debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by the first gelato recipe, created by architect Bernardo Buontalenti in 1559. It spread across Italy and Europe and reached the United States in 2017 (80 festivals in total), before going global with the 2021 World Masters. That edition ended in December 2021 with a win for Adam Fazekas of Budapest, after a record 3,500 gelato artisans were judged by international juries.

What this means for gelato makers in Australia

Local ingredients like Greek wine, honey and nuts show how a flavour can say something about where it was made. If you want to build your own signature range, explore Rubicone gelato ingredients, our Carpigiani gelato machines and Carpigiani Gelato University through Majors Group.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for Australia by Majors Group.