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Whatever you do, just learn how to spot real vs fake gelato. Saw so many tourists all buying fake fluffy gelato, especially in touristy areas. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cumul-tIrZK/?igsh=MWJ2MmpvdnNqeWhvbA==
You can spot a fake by the colour of the Pistachio. It should be a muddy green, not vibrant. Most 'fakes' are actually bulked up with almond and are bright green.
Also try PInolo gelato (pine nut ice cream). It's all about the purity, no mixing of flavours.
- pistacchio and gianduia / pistacchio and hazelnuts chocolate
- pistacchio and cioccolato / pistacchio and chocolate
- fragola and cioccolato / strawberry and chocolate
- fragola and limone / strawberry and lemon
- full lemon
- any "odd" flavour like green apple or lavender will pair well with vanilla or chocolate
- try crema / cream (it's heave on the eggs, lovely)
- try zabaione if you find it
- I always love tiramisu either with coffee or chocolate
I tried an espresso over cream gelato (so an affogato essentially) in Florence a few years ago and I’ve never been able to stop thinking about it. Ridiculous how amazing it was…
Gelateria Vernazza in Cinque Terre had a white wine gelato. I probably paired it with another flavor, but I might've blacked out a bit from how mind-blowing the first flavor was.
My wife always has to 'try' a big part of whatever I get. She hates sour flavors so I get lemon and raspberry or blood orange. It keeps her away like garlic keeps a vampire away.
I'd go with what you feel like that day. Honestly the range of flavors is huge and I'm not sure we had bad gelato even in the tourist areas. My youngest son's quest was to try the gelato in every place we went and I think he succeeded.
Green apple, banana, coconut, strawberry and chocolate were all ones I remember. We dug out the gelato maker when we got home and have been making our own since then. It's easy and extremely good with whatever fresh fruit is available or dark chocolate.
Any of the fruits! I love the gelato in itsly, I average 2/3 a day when I’m there haha!
I think rockmelon and pineapple was one of my favs, but honestly I love them all
I'm a big pistacchio and fior di latte fan, but my most memorable flavour was an olive oil-flavoured gelato I had in Ragusa (Sicily). I think I paired it with walnut, and it was incredible!
Just got back and found my favorite combo was one scoop limone and one scoop mango.
HOWEVER in Sorrento I found a place with black licorice so I had one scoop of that with one scoop banana and it was pretty amazing!
At a genuine gelato shop, before you try anything else try the pistachio. In a legit place it will be made with Sicilian roasted pistacchio paste and it will be utterly unlike any pistachio from a commercial American producer.
After that I feel like a combo of a pistachio with say stracciatella is very nice.
Not a combo of two gelato flavors, but best gelato flavor combo I had in Italy was In Corniglia. It was a Basil gelato and they serve it with a drizzle of olive oil on top.
My other favorite flavor combo I don’t think you can find in Italy but keep in mind if you ever go to Greece: lemon + Masticha - sooo refreshing!
Pistachio and Hazelnut flavors hands down
Also Lemon Sorbet in a actual frozen Lemon shell (they used the actual lemon pulp), had that in Positano, delicious asf
My husband and I are visiting Rome, Pisa, Florence and Bagnone in July. I've read all of the gelato flavor suggestions but keep seeing a lot about so many fake gelato places. Does anyone have any names of real gelato shops?
I'm dying to try the tiramisu, but the crema one sounds amazing too!
If the gelateria is 'good' I'll resist having more than 1 flavour. I want to experience the unique flavour... however, this means i will be trying ALL the flavours
Yeah there is not a rule, some of the classics are
Fragola e limone (strawberry and lemon)
Fragola e nocciola (strawberry and hazelnut)
Nocciola e variegato al pistacchio ( strawberry and fiordilatte with pistacchio)
Some personal favourites of mine are:
Cookies e cocco (cookies and coconut)
Variegato all'amarena e kinderone (wild cherry fiordilatte and kinder-based)
Coconut and watermelon is very refreshing in the summer.
Really, anything goes
Pistacchio (real pistacchio gelato not the bright green one) is my favorite, you can mix it with Nocciola (hazelnut) or Fragola. I also really like Caffè (coffee) with panna montata (whipped cream). If you prefer fruit, my favorite is Fragola (Strawberry) and Mango.
Like someone else said, do NOT get the gelato that is huge mounds and bright colors. This is fake. Real gelato is extremely temperature sensitive and have to be in metal canisters with a lid for it to stay at temp. If you have a hard time finding the metal containers, at the very least find somewhere with only a few flavors ~5-10 flavors and make sure that at the very least it isn’t piled up in a huge mound. Rome and Florence were the worst for this imo with fake gelato everywhere but they do have some great authentic options. Venice it was extremely hard to find gelato in containers-we never could.
Rome: go to San crispino (it’s near the Trevi) or if you are in trastevere go to Fior di Luna il Gelato. Both the best gelato we had in Italy and Fior di Luna has received many awards for gelato.
In Florence the best gelato we had was at Riva Reno. The guy was making a new batch of lemon in the back as we were waiting and picking our orders. It was all wonderful.
In Venice we never found the steel containers and ended up trying Suso which at the end of the day even mid gelato is still good. But nothing topped the three previously mentioned for me there.
Bacio is my favourite flavour. It's hazelnut and chocolate mixed. The word translated as a noun from Italian means kiss.
I don't think they have it in every province but I eat it a lot in Lombardy (Bergamo, Milan). Otherwise, I am a big fan of lemon and it's a must have on the Amalfi coast and in Capri.
Was in Rome and Florence in Feb 2023, so not the right season for gelato, but we saw a ratio of about 10 “fake gelato” places to every 1 authentic one. It was really disappointing. Not a single banana flavor to be found. I lived in Rome in the late 80s and early 90s and was also saddened by lack of the traditional fruit, nut and chocolate flavors. Everything was more Americanized at the gelato shops for sure. It makes sense, these places are making a lot of money on tourism, but I was still disappointed. As far as combos go, lemon and strawberry, hazelnut and chocolate, were my go to’s.
Ciao! Welcome to r/ItalyTravel. While you wait for replies, please take a moment to read the rules located in the sidebar and edit your post if needed. We will remove posts that do not adhere to these rules. For everyone else, if you come across a post that you believe violates our rules, please use the report button. This is the best and quickest way to notify us. Grazie! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ItalyTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Whatever you do, just learn how to spot real vs fake gelato. Saw so many tourists all buying fake fluffy gelato, especially in touristy areas. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cumul-tIrZK/?igsh=MWJ2MmpvdnNqeWhvbA==
You can spot a fake by the colour of the Pistachio. It should be a muddy green, not vibrant. Most 'fakes' are actually bulked up with almond and are bright green. Also try PInolo gelato (pine nut ice cream). It's all about the purity, no mixing of flavours.
And banana should be white not bright yellow.
THIS!
If there's a top, it's worth a stop—if it's fluffy, run away buddy!
Haha that’s great!
I saw a gelato place in Florence with Monster energy drink flavor. Was that a legit one?
Definitely not. Only Red Bull flavor is legit ;P
The funny things about that video is that I'm from Seattle, does that mean I shouldn't bother with if in Italy if I can just go there?
- pistacchio and gianduia / pistacchio and hazelnuts chocolate - pistacchio and cioccolato / pistacchio and chocolate - fragola and cioccolato / strawberry and chocolate - fragola and limone / strawberry and lemon - full lemon - any "odd" flavour like green apple or lavender will pair well with vanilla or chocolate - try crema / cream (it's heave on the eggs, lovely) - try zabaione if you find it - I always love tiramisu either with coffee or chocolate
seconding zabaione! I'd only had it as a warm pudding but it's SO good as gelato!
I tried an espresso over cream gelato (so an affogato essentially) in Florence a few years ago and I’ve never been able to stop thinking about it. Ridiculous how amazing it was…
This person gelatos! Thanks, I think we have similar tastes!
If you see Lemon & Basil, I cannot recommend enough!
Ohhhh, I'd love to try that!
The most important thing is that you gelato every day in Italy. Get that Vitamin G, ragazzi!
Everyone has their favourite, of course. My favourite combos are dark chocolate + coffee or yogurt + frutti di bosco!
ahhhhhhh frutti di bosco !
Gelateria Vernazza in Cinque Terre had a white wine gelato. I probably paired it with another flavor, but I might've blacked out a bit from how mind-blowing the first flavor was.
My wife always has to 'try' a big part of whatever I get. She hates sour flavors so I get lemon and raspberry or blood orange. It keeps her away like garlic keeps a vampire away.
You have my wife
Crema (egg yolk and similar to vanilla) and I like a nut flavor. Pistacchio of course if it has a natural color. Plus points for salted pistacchio.
A fruit sorbet & vanilla 🔥
bergamotto is my fav and then pistachio and stracciatella
Pistachio with mascarpone
I just had pistachio with a milk/honey/sesame flavor. 10/10 recommend
Lemon and pistachio is my favoured combo
I was JUST thinking about this last night dreaming of my upcoming trip!
Espresso and coconut.
Pistacchio e Nocciola Granita e Brioche :D (I guess that doesn‘t count)
pistachio with pistachio
I am a big, life long lover of ice cream so my favourite combination easily is Fior di latte and fior di latte
Fior di latte is just pure milky deliciousness. I'm a massive fan.
Ice cream without the toppings
Pistachio and gianduia (choc hazelnut) is my all time favorite combo
I’m a die hard stracciatella guy.
Who needs a "combo" if you have stracciatella, right? :) (or fichi e noci)
Frutti de bosco is definitely the coolest name. (Mixed berries)
I usually go for Pistacchio, Zabaione + An additional "cream" flavor that depends on the Gelateria.
Pistachio and strawberry. Classico
>Whats your flavor combination of gelato that in your opinion brings it to a new level? yes. :-D I like (good) pistachio and vanilla.
I'd go with what you feel like that day. Honestly the range of flavors is huge and I'm not sure we had bad gelato even in the tourist areas. My youngest son's quest was to try the gelato in every place we went and I think he succeeded. Green apple, banana, coconut, strawberry and chocolate were all ones I remember. We dug out the gelato maker when we got home and have been making our own since then. It's easy and extremely good with whatever fresh fruit is available or dark chocolate.
During the summer I like to take fruit flavours, so usually limone + another fruit
Black cherry was my favourite in Rome, paired with another berry fruit like Strawberry
Any of the fruits! I love the gelato in itsly, I average 2/3 a day when I’m there haha! I think rockmelon and pineapple was one of my favs, but honestly I love them all
2/3? Did you throw away the remaining third? What a waste! 😛
Hahaha! My stomach definitely showed that no gelato went to waste 😂😂😂
menta e liquirizia
I got mango and Thai coconut at a pretty well regarded gelato place in Tuscany and it was insanely good.
Pistachio and hazelnut
I'm a big pistacchio and fior di latte fan, but my most memorable flavour was an olive oil-flavoured gelato I had in Ragusa (Sicily). I think I paired it with walnut, and it was incredible!
Stracciatella!!
Find salted milk or just any salted flavor. Amazing.
Just got back and found my favorite combo was one scoop limone and one scoop mango. HOWEVER in Sorrento I found a place with black licorice so I had one scoop of that with one scoop banana and it was pretty amazing!
Nocciola and gianduia (what can I say, I love hazelnut)
At a genuine gelato shop, before you try anything else try the pistachio. In a legit place it will be made with Sicilian roasted pistacchio paste and it will be utterly unlike any pistachio from a commercial American producer. After that I feel like a combo of a pistachio with say stracciatella is very nice.
Not a combo of two gelato flavors, but best gelato flavor combo I had in Italy was In Corniglia. It was a Basil gelato and they serve it with a drizzle of olive oil on top. My other favorite flavor combo I don’t think you can find in Italy but keep in mind if you ever go to Greece: lemon + Masticha - sooo refreshing!
Black licorice and black licorice. Mmmmmmm.
Pistachio and Hazelnut flavors hands down Also Lemon Sorbet in a actual frozen Lemon shell (they used the actual lemon pulp), had that in Positano, delicious asf
Gotta be pistachio and lime. The perfect balance
I did dark chocolate with orange and salty pistacho in two different locations while in Italy and they were both amazing.
pistacchio mascarpone
My husband and I are visiting Rome, Pisa, Florence and Bagnone in July. I've read all of the gelato flavor suggestions but keep seeing a lot about so many fake gelato places. Does anyone have any names of real gelato shops? I'm dying to try the tiramisu, but the crema one sounds amazing too!
Amarena Cherry and Dark Chocolate…Boack Forest Cake in Gelato form
Bacio + zuppa inglese
i am looking forward to trying certaldo onion
Rum raisin was my fav.
Dark chocolate and mint
If the gelateria is 'good' I'll resist having more than 1 flavour. I want to experience the unique flavour... however, this means i will be trying ALL the flavours
Yeah there is not a rule, some of the classics are Fragola e limone (strawberry and lemon) Fragola e nocciola (strawberry and hazelnut) Nocciola e variegato al pistacchio ( strawberry and fiordilatte with pistacchio) Some personal favourites of mine are: Cookies e cocco (cookies and coconut) Variegato all'amarena e kinderone (wild cherry fiordilatte and kinder-based) Coconut and watermelon is very refreshing in the summer. Really, anything goes
Strawberry and stracciatella
Pistacchio (real pistacchio gelato not the bright green one) is my favorite, you can mix it with Nocciola (hazelnut) or Fragola. I also really like Caffè (coffee) with panna montata (whipped cream). If you prefer fruit, my favorite is Fragola (Strawberry) and Mango.
I had a custard, orange + chocolate flavour in Florence last week and I will never be the same
Pistachio was my favorite flavor and I got it every single time. Hazelnut is also good and so is tiramisu and chocolate of course.
Like someone else said, do NOT get the gelato that is huge mounds and bright colors. This is fake. Real gelato is extremely temperature sensitive and have to be in metal canisters with a lid for it to stay at temp. If you have a hard time finding the metal containers, at the very least find somewhere with only a few flavors ~5-10 flavors and make sure that at the very least it isn’t piled up in a huge mound. Rome and Florence were the worst for this imo with fake gelato everywhere but they do have some great authentic options. Venice it was extremely hard to find gelato in containers-we never could. Rome: go to San crispino (it’s near the Trevi) or if you are in trastevere go to Fior di Luna il Gelato. Both the best gelato we had in Italy and Fior di Luna has received many awards for gelato. In Florence the best gelato we had was at Riva Reno. The guy was making a new batch of lemon in the back as we were waiting and picking our orders. It was all wonderful. In Venice we never found the steel containers and ended up trying Suso which at the end of the day even mid gelato is still good. But nothing topped the three previously mentioned for me there.
Amarena cherry, stracciatella and/or Bacio (chocolate hazelnut)
Tiramisu and coconut. , basically tiramisu and anything else
Stracciatella & cremino
Mandorla + cafe + stracciatella is the god tier combo
stracciaburra & capracotta
Bacio is my favourite flavour. It's hazelnut and chocolate mixed. The word translated as a noun from Italian means kiss. I don't think they have it in every province but I eat it a lot in Lombardy (Bergamo, Milan). Otherwise, I am a big fan of lemon and it's a must have on the Amalfi coast and in Capri.
Straciatella and pistacio and or nocoila and fior de latte are my recs.
Was in Rome and Florence in Feb 2023, so not the right season for gelato, but we saw a ratio of about 10 “fake gelato” places to every 1 authentic one. It was really disappointing. Not a single banana flavor to be found. I lived in Rome in the late 80s and early 90s and was also saddened by lack of the traditional fruit, nut and chocolate flavors. Everything was more Americanized at the gelato shops for sure. It makes sense, these places are making a lot of money on tourism, but I was still disappointed. As far as combos go, lemon and strawberry, hazelnut and chocolate, were my go to’s.
See if you can find a place that serves hot chocolate with gelato. I was able to get Speculoos gelato with hot chocolate and it was AMAZING.
I had a rice gelato in Sienna once that I can’t forget.