Ask An Italian: Gelato

by Francesco on 06/18/2008

Every week, Francesco Serra, our good friend and expert on all things Italian, gives us perspective on Italian culture. Residing in the northern city of Padova, but being a fiercely proud native Calabrian, he brings a unique perspective on all things Italian.

Image: mulaohu.

Our question today for Francesco....When you are craving gelato, how do you know if a place is good? What are your favorite flavors? Do you think a cup or cone is better for enjoying gelato without making a mess? Do you have any other advice for gelato fans?

Have a question about Italy? Send Francesco an e-mail and we'll have him answer your question here.

That's hard question to answer... You don't normally know (only if you live in the same city) if a place is good or not. But you can guess from how long the line is out of the gelateria! Jokes apart, there's no real rule to follow: mostly it is a matter of luck.

My favorite flavors are Cioccolato, Bacio and Malaga, usually all put together (no diets, thank you
:-P), and usually on a cone, as, for me, the real gelato is ONLY on the cone. I take the cup only if i have to not get soiled, but it leaves me not very satisfied!

The very last advice I can give is only to put attention on how the gelato is made, cause you can find places where it's not made in the best way: anyway, you definitely want gelato which is made with a base of milk, and you can mostly find it in gelaterie artigianali (artigianali literally means hand-crafted.)

No one knows a place better than a local, so we're asking our circle of friends to be our experts and answer our questions. If you'd like to become our resident expert on a city or country, drop us an e-mail.

More Yummy Links:
At Home in Rome's Gelato Tour
Gelato on Wikipedia
Gelato Flavors Decoded

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