Perche

In the list of the top 100 gelaterie in Italy that start this thread the name of the place and the city is provided. For the top 50 they provide the actual street address too.

You can browse the list and see if there are any near the city where you are going to be. Just open Google or Apple maps, figure out where you are and whether any of the places on the list are close, like Gelateria di Piazza, San Gimignano, Siena. It might take a little time, but it will be worth it. As mentioned in the article, there are only a few places in Florence that sell real gelato and you are more likely to find the real thing in the smaller towns around Tuscany that you mention, unless you are just looking for ice cream.

snic

We made several Gelato stops in Tuscany and Rome. Thanks to Perche for describing what to look for, we had some amazingly delicious gelato. In Florence at Gelateria della Passera, then in Pienza a little hole-in-the wall place off the main road (don't remember the name). In Travestere (Rome), we stopped at Fiordiluna and Fatamorgana. Usually I stuck with classic flavors like nocciola and pistachio (and I am still dreaming about them). But Fatamorgana had something really unique: chocolate with smoked black tea. It was just mind-numbingly good, partly because it was such an unusual combination - but it worked remarkably well.

KLouis

1986, visiting Rome bringing along my kids (then 8 and 6) for the first time: dentifricio (tooth paste) ice cream in several gelaterie in the centro storico, white with blue "stripes". According to the kids (I obviously refused to even taste it) it had, well, a tooth paste taste, basically mint. I haven't seen it since then

snic

Well, that pretty much describes mint chocolate chip ice cream (or, really, mint anything).

I made my own ice cream once with mint from the garden, which turned out much better than typical mint chocolate chip. I steeped the fresh mint leaves in hot cream, drained them and threw them away, and used the cream to make chocolate chip ice cream. It was fabulous, and didn't taste like toothpaste at all. The trick is to use the right kind of mint (it's either spearmint or peppermint - the one that tastes LEAST like tooth paste). In general, commercially prepared confections that are mint flavored actually use mint extract, rather than real mint, which is why they taste so awful (unless you like the taste of toothpaste).

KLouis

Standard mint ice cream with blue stripes!

Perche

It is common for Google, various websites, and people to translate gelato as the Italian word for ice cream. That is not so. They are two different products.

It would be like mistranslating a burrito as a taco. You could say they are cousins because they are both Tex-Mex food, but the differences between the two are substantial.

I don't know where to start, and I probably forgot most of it. Ice Cream is made out of cream, about 30% fat. Gelato is made out of whole milk, about 6% fat. The difference is similar to the difference between drinking fresh milk, and drinking Half-and-Half coffee creamer.

Gelato is made in the store in small quantities to be served that day. It will keep for the next day, but anytime beyond that would be pushing it. It doesn't have the chemical additives that would allow it to remain fresh beyond a day or two.

Ice cream is not made in a store, it is made in a factory. They add so many chemicals, and keep it so cold that it has a legal shelf-life of two years, not two days. Most "gelato" in Italy is actually industrial ice cream.

Ice cream is kept very cold, because it is often in the window of a store, out in the sun, and might sit there for a year. Gelato is kept at a temperature just below it's melting point. That's why it drips down your hands before you can finish it. It's also why unlike ice cream, it immediately dissolves into a burst of flavor when it hits your tongue.

Ice cream is made in industrial that inject air so that the final product is made out of about 70% air. Gelato doesn't have any added air. Whipping adds some air, but nowhere near that amount. That is why the flavor of gelato is so intense compared to ice cream; it's not mostly made out of air.

Ice cream is made out of powdered, reconstituted products added for flavor. Even the cream of ice cream in Italy sold as gelato is almost always made out of powdered cream.

Gelato is made out of fresh milk, according to the fantasy of the gelatiere. That is why one day you find flavors such as chocolate with smoked black tea, the next day sorrentine nuts with corinthian raisins, the next day peaches and wine, and the next day cherries and beer, and the next day black rice with rose buds, all depending on the season.

The difference in the amount of sugar between gelato and ice cream is also substantial. I don't remember the percent, but I think there is twice as much sugar in ice cream than in gelato.

Because gelato is not kept as cold as ice cream, or else it would turn into a popsicle, it is usually (but not always) stored in cylindrical bins with a lid so that it will not melt. It is never in the store of a window outside, facing the sun. If you order that you are just eating a cone of powdered cream, chemicals, preservatives, with artificial coloring, flavor, and sugar.

Gelato is not ice cream. By snic saying he/she had chocolate with smoked black tea gelato at Fatamorgana in Rome, I will say that was definitely gelato, not ice cream.

Perche

Another thing I forgot to mention to discern if you are eating ice cream called gelato, or actual gelato. I'm in San Francisco. It's hot, and I was thirsty. I saw a "Gelateria." I knew the odds of finding gelato in SF were worse than the odds of talking the devil into going to church, but I ordered one anyway. As soon as I saw an ice cream scoop was I knew I was going to be eating ice cream, not gelato. Gelato is much denser (less air) and has a different temperature as than ice cream (or else it would turn into ice), so it has a very different texture so a spatula, not a scoop is used to serve it. That's just another tip off. Of course the San Francisco gelateria used an ice cream scoop and served me ice cream.

obscure2k

I was at a charity event in Los Angeles yesterday which featured great chefs. Nancy Silverton, an acclaimed chef,(James Beard winner for Chef of the Year in U.S.) now has a line of gelati which she and her assistants were serving at the event. The gelati were, indeed, served with a small spatula on to tiny cones. I am convinced that this was the real thing. Also, Ms Silverton owns a home in Tuscany where she spends most of her summers and is a believer in authenticity. I was so impressed with the taste of my strawberry-lemon gelato that I bid on a a gift certificate for a large quantity and was the successful bidder. https://www.nancysfancy.com

snic

Looks amazing. I'd be willing to spend $10/pint, but the $40 shipping to NY is a deal breaker.

obscure2k

Appears to be available at Dean and DelUca
http://www.deandeluca.com/nancy-s-fancy-gelato-quartet

Perche

Tourists beware, not too long ago there was a newspaper article about a couple who called the police when a gelateria near the Fountain of Trevi, right down the street from the Fountain of Trevi McDonalds, charged them 13 euros per cone for fake gelato. The police said it wasn't against the law because all stores have to post the prices on the wall, and it was posted. The place is called Bar il Caffe. Don't go there. Don't eat in that neighborhood at all, unless you have done your research.

The good news, there is actually a world gelato championship held every three years. It's very rigorous. The competition involves not just gelato in Italy, but gelato around the entire world. Professors from Gelato University in Bologna (yes, there is such a thing as Gelato University in Italy) travel to 19 countries to evaluate about 1,800 gelato makers who applied to be in the competition. The judges go in disguised as regular customers and evaluate the products. They invite about 35 out of the 1,800 to come to Italy to compete in the finals.

The full details of the recently completed competition haven't been published yet. They will be shortly, but I know this. Gelato Crispini in Spoleto, which is a fairly small town in Umbria about an hour outside of Perugia, won the prize for best gelato in the world. Their Sicilian pistachio, made out of nuts they roast for 24 hours, won best gelato of all.

The second best gelato in the world was voted to be a place in Schwabach, Germany, which is a suburb of Nuremberg, called German Eiscafé De Rocco. I don't speak German, and suspect that means Rocco's German Ice Cafe. I do know that it is run by two Venetians.

The third best gelato in the world was found at Amor-acuyà in Medellín, Colombia, based on the gelato they make with passion fruit.

Don't go to the Fountain of Trevi and pay 13 euros for a fake ice cream cone. Authentic gelato can be found around the world, if you know where to look.

snic

It's not really translatable, as neither "German" nor "De" are German words. But "Eiscafe" should be translated as "ice cream shop" or "ice cream parlor", not "ice cafe".

It's really a very silly name. Possible American version: Ice Cream Shoppe Italiano von Rocco.

ckendall

Sign outside Gelato Giusto


I finally went to Gelato Giusto (#16 in Italy and the highest rated in Milan) and tried some of the seasonal flavors (Verbena abd Basilico along with some lemon) and it was quite lovely but I am hard pressed to declare it the best gelato I have ever had. Certainly worth a detour if you are in the neighborhood as I often am.

Forrest Bump

Hardly these stuff are more than a circus. We are having a wave of "gourmet" about whatever food in Italy.
A smart trick to double or triple prices of everything. A pizza margherita in Naples went from 3€ to 10€ just because, and you're fed with all the bullcrap big words to describe the ingredients DOP, IPG, DOPG yada yada...

Double down with all things bio, vegan and the likes.
While you still can find a real gelato and a real pizza priced like it used to be (until 2-3 years ago, not in the middle-age) it's becoming more and more a rarity.

Thinking about it, all started with that bull...tter of Oscar Farinetti and his "Eataly", well endorsed and funded under the table by the master of all bull....tter former PM Matteo Renzi.

oh_lol

I've been trying to understand from reading this thread, but what are the best ways to tell gelato and ice-cream apart?

My Italian girlfriend doesn't believe me that Italian's would, in her words, 'produce fake gelato'.