Made from scratch.

Passed down with love.

The story of Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices

Some things just take you back. The sticky sidewalk. The line around the corner. That first cold spoonful on the hottest day of the year. Since 1928, Ralph’s has been making those moments happen — with real ingredients, family pride, and a commitment to quality that has never wavered.

The Beginning

A young man, a dream, and a garage full of lemons

In 1928, Ralph Silvestro arrived with little more than the clothes on his back and a recipe in his memory. He’d grown up with the cool, crystalline sweetness of Italian ice — a tradition rooted in Italian granita — and he believed that Staten Island deserved to taste it.

With no storefront and no fanfare, Ralph made his lemon and orange ices by hand in his garage, loaded them onto a truck, and drove through the neighborhoods. Children ran to the curb. Families lined up in the heat. Word spread the way only something truly delicious can — one happy spoonful at a time.

Nearly a Century in the Making

Generation after generation, the ices keep coming

1928

Ralphs sells from a truck
1949

First Storefront Opens
1966

2nd Generation takes over

“To carry on his tradition into a third generation is truly an honor.”

— LARRY, JOHN & MIKE, RALPH’S GRANDSONS

The Standard

What we stand for

Uncompromising quality

The same standard Ralph set in 1928 — unchanged, uncompromised, unwavering.

Family — full stop

Family isn't the backstory, it's the only story. Four generations and counting

Your neighborhood shop

Ralph's is a local landmark wherever we open our doors.

Happiness in every spoonful

Putting smiles on our customers' faces for almost 100 years.

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