Ice-cream executives

Rome: An Italian ‘university' dedicated to ice cream has seen a 90 per cent rise in students as executives laid off in the recession seek to make careers producing the country's beloved gelato.

More than 6,000 people attended the courses offered by the Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna in 2008, but the number of students — including many from outside Italy — enrolling on the courses nearly doubled last year. As well as learning in laboratories how to concoct familiar flavours such as chocolate and vanilla, students experiment with more outlandish tastes, including ice cream made from olive oil, Parmesan cheese and basil.

"In China, they have experimented with fish-flavoured gelato," said Patrick Hopkins, the American director of the university, which was established in 2003. The institution is an offshoot of Carpigiani, an Italian company that makes ice-cream machines.

Courses last from two to five days and cost up to £600 (Dh3,521). "We've had a 89 per cent increase in enrolments. We're getting more and more people who have been hit by the economic crisis and want to create a new future for themselves," said Hopkins. "A lot of them are senior business people who have lost their jobs."