A family owned business – Micalizzi´s Italian Ice – opened in downtown Milford on May 19. This addition to the center of our town is located at 1 River Street. Owner, Jay Piccirillo, is known as “The Ice Man” and is working with his partners, Alex Vazzano, John Vazzano, Rick Vazanno, and Vincent Pezzella to add a second retail shop to their business and expand from their landmark in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

     Pirccirollo says, “We’ve been around for over 50 years now and a lot of our customers, fans, and friends have moved to Milford and wanted us to come there because they don’t come to Bridgeport anymore.” He continues with saying how they are mainly manufacturing at their Bridgeport location now and wanted to move to a busier place where their business can thrive more. 

     The new shop will include a variety of 12 flavors of Italian ice, eight flavors of their hand-crafted ice cream, six types of store baked cookies, pies, and so much more. Micalizzi’s Italian Ice also sells to other businesses and restaurants. These restaurants sell the products to their customers, which is very popular among adults, since restaurants use Micalizzi’s italian ice in their alcoholic beverages. 

     For example, Milford community member, Michele Casey, has tried one of these drinks at Joey C’s Boathouse in Stratford, CT. Casey mentions, “I love this idea of making the drinks have more of a delicious taste. It added a new and unique flavor to the beverages. Micalizzi’s products are also found at a restaurant already here in Milford, named “Hair of the Dog”. 

     Senior, Maegan Alderman shares that her and her family had dinner at this restaurant and tried some of these products. She says, “My parents and I shared the cannoli pie and banana cream pie for dessert. I couldn’t tell you which was better – they both were amazing!”

     Micalizzi’s is also found at many festivals, like the Oyster Fest during the summer, along with events, like school functions and weddings. Pirccirollo tells how they have another business, branched off Micalizzi’s, called “The Brain Freeze Bar”, which are carts and trucks used for these events.

     Sophomore, Jordan Lawerence shares, “A Micalizzi’s Italian Ice cart was at my cousin’s graduation party a couple years ago. I absolutely loved it! It was a perfect, refreshing treat, especially on that hot summer day.”

     Another feature of Micalizzi’s is their custom flavors of ice cream that people can create themselves.  People are able to name the flavors after the event or their loved ones that they are celebrating and Micalizzi´s makes this personal flavor with whatever ingredients they desire.

     Dustin Hueffman, senior, explains his experience with these custom flavors. Hueffman says how him and his mom had Micalizzi´s create a personal ice cream flavor for his sister’s 16th birthday. Since his sister has a love for strawberries, they named her flavor as “Liz’s ‘Sweet’ 16th.” For this creation, they used strawberry ice cream, strawberries, strawberry sauce, along with more strawberry ingredients that they had to offer.

     After trying her customized ice cream, Junior, Elizabeth Huffeman, shares, “This was the best surprise for my birthday! I never knew any business who did this cool idea. Seeing the sign with my personal ice cream flavor was something I never thought I would see, which gave me that special feeling on my birthday.”

      Micalizzi’s has been voted the best Italian ice place in the state and the recipe they use has been around since 1937. It’s an old New York style of italian ice that isn’t really made anymore. A lot of people now make it with what’s called, ‘water ice’, but, instead, they have an old Italian style to their recipe. Now, it is becoming one of the first iconic landmark businesses in the state to have been around for decades and now moving to another town. 

             Piccirollo states, “We look forward to continuing our involvement in the community, not only with the production of our products, but also charity work for people and children in need.”  For a list of their complete menu, click here: Micalizzis.com.