Gelaterium restaurants in Europe
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Gelateria Giolitti
This started as a dairy in 1900 and still keeps the hoards happy with succulent sorbets and creamy combinations. Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn swung by in Roman Holiday and it used to deliver marron glacé to Pope John Paul II.
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Gelateria della Palma
A warning to parents: don't take kids in here unless you want to spend a lot. Like an ice-cream version of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, this brightly-coloured gelateria believes in customer choice, offering up to 100 different flavours. The specialities are creamy mousse gelati and the meringata varieties with bits of meringue.
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Gelateria di Piazza
As the pictures on the wall attest, many celebrities have closed their lips around one of these rich ice creams (‘All the family thought the ice cream was delicious, ’ attested one Tony Blair). Master Sergio uses only the choicest ingredients: pistachios from Sicily and cocoa from Venezuela.
reviewed
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Gelateria Natale
One of the best ice-creams in Lecce is available here. You might have to queue but this will give you time to choose. It’s also a fabulous confectioner, gleaming with jewel-like treats, truffles, panna cotta and dark chocolate cakes that pool like oil slicks on golden plates.
reviewed
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Palazzo del Freddo di Giovanni Fassi
A great back-in-time barn of a place, sprinkled with marble tabletops and vintage gelato-making machinery, Fassi offers fantastic classic flavours, such as riso (rice), pistachio and nocciola (hazelnut). The granita, served with dollops of cream, deserves special mention.
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La Sorbetteria Castiglione
Locals queue up day and night at this award-winning gelateria, which focuses all of its creative energy on 18 flavours. Taste the gianduia (chocolate-hazelnut ice cream with whole hazelnuts inside) and you’ll be an instant convert.
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Grom
The first-ever outlet of this Slow Food–affiliated ice cream, renowned for organic flavours such as green tea, was started here in Turin. There’s another branch at Via Accademia delle Scienze 4, which keeps the same hours.
reviewed
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Kopa Kabana
Flout the places with enviable locations and be rewarded with absurd mountains of Siena’s freshest gelato, starting at €1.70. A second location is at Via San Pietro 20.
reviewed
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La Fonte della Salute
It might not be quite the ‘fountain of health’ of the name, but the fruit flavours are so delicious they must surely be good for the soul.
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Checco er Carettiere
Something of a food complex, this is a restaurant, bakery, gelateria and osteria. With a swinging 1950s feel, the restaurant is wood-panelled throughout and terracotta-floored. Roman dishes to savour include saltimbocca alla romana or bombolotti (ridged tube pasta) all'amatriciana. The osteria is a small, appealing place with a few daily specials. The cakes at the café (07:00-01:00) are delicious, and the ice cream good too.
The walls are smothered in black-and-white photos of celebrities. Some tables are tucked into alcoves for intimate parties, or there's a large convivial room with wooden columns and an outside patio. There's a special smoking room between this and th…
reviewed
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Caffe Cordina
There’s some prime people-watching on Misraħ ir-Repubblika, where several cafes command the ranks of tables around the statue of Queen Victoria. The oldest (and busiest) option is Caffe Cordina, established in 1837 and now a local institution. You have the choice of waiter service at the tables in the square or inside, or joining the locals at the zinc counter inside for a quick caffeine hit. And be sure to look up; the ceiling is exquisitely painted. Excellent for savoury pastries and decadent sweets, and there’s a gelati counter out front.
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Grom
This Torinese chain’s gentle attempt at world domination (there are branches on Broadway and Bleecker) is no reason to dismiss its wares. The pale and fragrant pistachio is made from nuts sourced from the slopes of Etna, a rich gianduja mixes roasted Piedmontese hazelnuts with Venezuelan chocolate, and all sorbets and granita come from organic, seasonal fruit. Don’t be afraid to ask for a taste, and do upgrade to Battifollo biscotti in lieu of spoons.
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Da Roberto
Owners Roberto and Eugenia made the sea change from Belluno in the Veneto, an area famed for its skilled gelato makers. The proof is in the cone. Utterly superlative are the gran biscotti, crema della nonna and the Mozart chocolate and hazelnut combo. The semi-freddi (partially frozen desserts) are also made fresh on the premises and legitimise any gluttonous impulse.
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Chocolat
As this slick-interiored gelateria’s name suggests, it plays flavour favourites. Variations on the chocolate theme include milk, dark, white, chilli, gianduja (chocolate- hazelnut) and cinnamon. People have been known to eat a crusty smoked salmon panini or a slice of fragrant home-baked almond cake here, but the crowds that queue out on the road come for the cups and cones.
reviewed
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Da Vinci
Not being able to choose between the 40 luscious flavours of freshly made ice cream at this gelateria is a good thing, as it means you'll be offered small spoonfuls of free samples to help you decide (of course, that might just make the decision harder). Scoops cost just around €2.20; in high summer it stays open until 23:00.
reviewed
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Cremeria Toscana
Yes, you can stumble across quite reasonable ice cream in Barcelona, but close your eyes and imagine yourself across the Mediterranean with the real ice-cream wizards. Creamy stracciatella and wavy nocciola …and myriad other flavours await at the most authentic gelato outlet in town. Buy a cone or a tub!
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Al Settimo Gelo
The name’s a play on ‘seventh heaven’ and it’s not a far-fetched title for one of Rome’s finest, with a devotion to the best possible natural ingredients – pistachios from Bronte, almonds from Avola and so on. Try the Greek ice cream or cardamom made to an Afghan recipe.
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Gelati DiVini
You’ve never had ice cream like this before! DiVini (which is a play on the words ‘divine’ and ‘wine’ in Italian) makes wine-flavoured ice creams like marsala, muscat and traghetto d’acqua, along with exceptional offerings like rose, fennel and wild mint, all derived from the original plant.
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Alberto Pica
The original Mr Pica worked for Giolitti, and this is a historic Roman gelataria, open since 1960. In summer, it offers flavours such as fragolini de bosco (wild strawberry) and petali di rosa (rose petal), but rice flavours are specialities year-round (resembling frozen rice pudding – yum).
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Riva Reno
The gelati at this bright Bolognian gelateria has a uniquely soft, smooth texture, and flavours are similarly innovative: praline and amaretti, toasted pine nuts, and saffron crème with burnt caramel sesame seeds. Can’t choose? The persimmon sorbet is soothingly simple.
reviewed
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Scimmia
The best of the much-loved Scimmia outlets, locals flock here rain, hail or shine for creamy made-on-the-premises ice cream. Go the zabaglione (made with eggs and sweet Marsala wine) or a tangy orange sorbet, and swing your hips to samba on the Latino-flavoured square.
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Massaro 2
Smaller and more modern than its sister restaurant, Massaro, at Massaro 2 you'll find fewer cakes but delicious ice cream, great coffee, sandwiches and futuristic décor in shiny aluminium. The Via Brasa branch has window stools for people- (and traffic-) watching.
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Bar Pianegiani
Just like Clark Kent, this nondescript neighbourhood bar puts on an innocent front to conceal the magic that lies beneath, but 50 years of tradition has created the world’s most perfect gelato. Try the black cherry (spagnola) or hazelnut (nocciola).
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Dolceria Corrado Costanzo
This is just around the corner from Caffè Sicilia. Both make superb dolci di mandorla (almond cakes and sweets), cassata (with ricotta cheese, chocolate and candied fruit) and torrone (nougat). Costanzo is famous for its gelati.
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Eiscafé Sarcletti
Addicts brave rock-star-worthy lines to get their gelato fix at this Munich institution which has been working its frozen magic since 1879. Choose from more than 50 mouth-watering flavours, from not-so-plain vanilla to honey-yogurt or caramel.
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