The Caterina de Medici thing is probably a bit exaggerated (depending on where you read about it, sometimes it seems like this princess brought civilization to

The Caterina de Medici thing is probably a bit exaggerated (depending on where you read about it, sometimes it seems like this princess brought civilization to a country inhabited by savages, while obviously France and Italy had already continuos contacts), but we do have records of ice-cream having been "invented" in Tuscany by either Ruggeri or Buontalenti in the 16th century. Some sort of sorbets were however "imported" much earlier from the East, recipes being mentioned by Marco Polo, and even earlier there are records of sorbets recipes being brought in Italy by people returning from crusades (probably faloodeh, orginating from Persia/Iran). It seems like Ruggeri "invented" more moderns sorbets, whilst Buontalenti was the first one to introduce the egg (and thus "proper" ice cream). Both, directly or indirectly, worked at the Medici court in Florence, but while Ruggeri was actually a cook brought with her by Caterina de Medici in France, and his sorbets seem to have been served in occasion of the marriage, Buontalenti was an architect that worked all life in Tuscany and created the ice cream much later (the marriage of Caterina de' Medici took place in 1533 and, Buontalenti was born in 1531), Buontalenti probably invented ice cream around 1565.