Festival del Gelato!
How it works is you pay five euros in advance online or nine euros at the door (either way, pretty reasonable) and that gets you a “gelato card.” This card is good to try five gelati of your choosing plus one extra gelato as a thanks after you vote for your favorite.
When you “try” a flavor with your gelato card, you actually get a normal amount of a small size gelato… so you are basically going to eat six gelati that day. Considering that most quality gelato in Rome is about two euro for a small, this is a literally sweet (lol) deal.
The festival starts in Florence in April and travels until the beginning of October touring Italy and making some stops elsewhere in Europe as well, and then ends back in Florence again. While it may appear small when you first walk up, there are always more flavors to try than there is room in your stomach. This is your chance to watch demonstrations to learn how to make gelato and try some of the most unique gelato inventions out of Italy. Basically, for the best day of your life, check out their calendar to see which city you should travel to and meet them in. Next up: London.
My favorites from my visit to the Gelato Festival at their stop in Rome are as follows:
Cuore di fragola al muscovado by Aroa Monge of Gelateria Gelataro in San Cesareo
Carchitti strawberries, water, sugar muscovado, chacaca (Brazilian brandy).
Ciambellina tivolese by Delfina Salvati of Gelateria Agriparco Dei Golosi at Villa Adriana di Tivoli (Rm)
Milk, cream, sugar caramel, wheat flour, oil, wine, hazelnuts.
Pesccati di gola by Antonio Cosentino of Gelateria Marrons Glaces in Catanzaro
Milk, hazelnut, chocolate, praline, macadamia nuts, sugars. (Can we note that perfect wave of nutty-chocolate-goodness ready to be surfed?)
Okay… my 100% first place without a doubt best ever favorite…
Ricotta con variegatura di fragole fresche by Stefania Alibrandi of Cremeria Alpi in Rome
Fresh milk, fresh cream, Roman DOP sheep ricotta, variegation of house-produced strawberries.
All in-post photos via Sarah Freeman
