Like the big, sweet onions of Vidalia, Ga., the tiny dusky lentils from Le Puy in France, and prosciutto from the area around Parma, Italy, there’s something so special about the pistachios grown here in the foothills of Mount Etna in eastern Sicily that they have been granted government protection.

In Italy, when chefs use those pistachios, they proudly label them Bronte, after the town in the heart of the region. In New York, one of the flavors scooped by the Arte del Gelato chain is pistachio di Bronte.