“How did you come up with such a delicious and creamy gelato?”, “Wow all the family works in the same business!” and “How do you make it work?”.
These are just some of the comments we get every day as a family and team business, and every time they make us smile. We’d love to tell you aMare’s story, how it all started and why we’re a little bit different from other gelaterias.
As a family-owned business, based in Split, you would be right to expect some tradition and family values in our roots. Growing up in a lively family of 7 siblings, resulted in hard-working habits, great relationships and a childhood with lots of memories.
The roots of aMare
During our childhood one of the things we remember was the sound of the gelato truck during summer and also of our mom’s love for pistachio gelato. Our hope for aMare was that, through this treat, you could feel the love that goes into making it. Tradition, family, sweetness, and making people happy – this was the main idea behind our family business!
Family businesses have always played a big part in our lives. Did you know that aMare’s original location, in Ul. Pavla Šubića 1, was once a leather goods shop? For years the shop, owned by our father, was a cherished business. Back then Split was much more traditional, filled with local shops and crafts.
Well, we couldn’t have kept beautiful Split a secret from tourists forever, right? Over the last decade Split turned into a very popular summer Mediterranean destination. With its marvelous Diocletian’s Palace, its green forest park Marjan, beaches and nearby islands the city changed its atmosphere and it was a perfect time for us, the kids, to take over the family business and make our childhood dream into reality. We were really lucky to have full support of our parents along the way, something that has given us wings, and a real boost.
First steps towards making a delicious gelato
It was now time for the siblings to run the family business! Inspired by our family’s work ethic and team spirit, it didn’t take us long to know the direction we should take. Five brothers and two sisters, a bustling city and gelato fans was the perfect recipe. aMare was born in 2022!
One of the first steps to success and a good business is dreaming, but the second step is actually doing something about it. We were passionate about the idea of creating aMare, but just opening a gelateria wasn’t enough. We wanted this not only to be a place for good times and handcrafted gelato — we needed it to be the best gelato in Split! It had to be an authentic, flavorful handcrafted Italian gelato.
We worked hard to research, learn, travel, work with some of the best gelato makers in the world to fully understand how to take our gelateria to the next level. We also knew that we wanted only the best ingredients so aMare works with fresh and high-quality ingredients to bring you the best flavors. Every flavor tells a story. For example, our pistachios are from Bronte, Italy, considered the best pistachio in the world, and our strawberries are picked and brought to the gelateria the same day, we work with Croatian producers. The fruit is filled with the fresh, juicy, authentic Mediterranean flavour. We take advantage of Dalmatia’s local products to bring even more freshness and taste of home.
Soon we realized that people were looking for something different and unique! That’s why we are in constant pursuit of new flavours. We mix pomegranate with orange, cheesecake and pistachio, we make apple crumble gelato, strawberry and cheesecake, but we really found the best mixture with our signature flavour: pistachio with white chocolate and pomegranate… It’s an ode to uniqueness and good experiences!
Second gelateria in only two years
It was no easy job, but it was fun, exciting and felt like family every day. We soon grew our family business with a bigger team (we don’t use the word staff). Although not every team member is related by blood, it feels like they are. aMare is a big family working together.
The number of gelato lovers grew day by day, the lines in front of our gelateria grew bigger, we had more flavors, we started to have longer working hours… And soon, within only two years (!) we opened our second store, on Narodni trg 16. Bigger, modern, in an ever more frequent location. We grew on social media, we now have a hilarious TikTok account, and lots of new plans for the upcoming years, so stay tuned.
People say that if you can dream it, you can do it. But our mother would say: If you work hard enough and if you’re dedicated to your goal, you can do it. And mom is always right. aMare has developed into what we’ve dreamed of: a love letter to family, delicious Italian handcrafted gelato, hard work and perseverance!
Follow us on social media to be a part of our story. A family business and a dream brought to life, a delicious gelato in the heart of Split. Visit aMare to experience the best gelato in Split Today!