After spending so many years abroad, I think today it is more frequent to find foreigners associating Italian culinary traditions to "Gelato" rather than to "pizza" and "spaghetti".
In case you are interested in learning whether there is a reason for that or not, please be aware that in Italy, in Emilia Romagna, there is a beautiful Gelato Museum ready to welcome anybody interested in discovering the history behind this delicious art.