As we explore the city we inevitably walk through sections we haven’t traveled before. Tucked away on these winding streets you’ll usually find a gelateria. Many sell generic, mass produced gelato from manufacturers like Cinque Stelle or Queen Victoria, to name a few. What we look for are those that make their own gelato. These gelaterias will have a sign that says “gelato artigianale” or other such language stating that their gelato is produced on site. These handcrafted treats are always much better and often come in a much wider variety of flavors. We recently found three such gelaterias.
The first was Gelateria della Passera. They were located in a tiny piazza across the Arno. While they did not offer many flavors, what they did have was delicious. I tried the pistachio and the chocolate with candied orange peel. Pistachio is a very popular flavor in Florence and is carried by almost all gelaterias, so they generally do it well. Their sorbetti are also luscious. Cinzia ordered their pear. I’ve tried pear elsewhere, but this one really tasted like fresh, sweet pears. You could even see little bits of the green and yellow pear skin and pulp in the sorbetto. That said, it isn't on our usual walking routes, as it’s on the other side of the Arno, and with a small selection of flavors we probably won’t find ourselves there again. (Yup, we’re a hard pair to please.)
The second was Serafino. This gelateria is located about 2 doors down from Vestri, a competing gelateria that specializes in chocolate and operates an adjacent chocolate shop. Serafino combats this by offering mostly sorbetto and granita. I ordered my favorite sorbetto combination: limone e fragola (lemon and strawberry). The sorbetto was smooth and the flavors were bright. They have a nice seating area outside in the piazza where you can relax and enjoy your selection. Good stuff.
The third was Antica Gelateria Fiorentina. We passed this one a few days earlier and took their business card so we could find our way back. Most of the Florentine business cards have maps on the back. This was a small gelateria with a few tiny tables and stools inside and a thin bench outside. They had maybe 20 flavors; a few with names I haven’t seen before. They had posters explaining the most exotic ones. We decided to try the Cuor di Pardula (cream with ricotta, lemon and orange peel, and saffron), Datteri e Noci (dates with walnuts), Ambrosia (yogurt with cinnamon and honey), and Buontalenti (traditional Florentine cream). Interesting flavors, but all were delicate. The addition of the small ground nuts and citrus peel gave the final product a grainy texture which was not all that enjoyable.
We also seem to have gotten into a habit, albeit a happy habit, of frequenting three gelaterias more often than all others. These are "La Carraia 2", "Gelateria dei Neri", and "Perche No!". These have become our favorites. Wanna hear more?
The first one we found was Perche No!. They’re the closest of the three and are located on one of the side streets between Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. There is a lot of foot traffic along this area all hours of the day and night, so not surprisingly there are gelaterias along this main street as well as each of the side streets. The side street gelaterias include Festival del Gelato, GROM, and Perche No!. While foodies seem to rave about GROM, and their lines seem to indicate that they have a solid fan base, Perche No! has several advantages. First, they offer 70 flavors which is much more than GROM’s 20 or so. Second, they are cheaper (€5 for two cups as opposed to €7 at GROM). Third, there is Sergio, one of the servers.
The first time we came into the shop he was mesmerized by Cinzia’s silver hair, and mesmerized is probably an understatement too. Every time since he’ll immediately notice Cinzia, shake his head, motion with his hand along the sides of his hair, and flash her a big smile. He can’t take his eyes off my wife, so much so that once he’s scooped her order he absent mindedly stands there holding my cup, unfilled, staring at her with a smile or engaging her in conversation. “Where have you been?” “How long are you in Florence?” “Beautiful hair.” Most of this in Italian.
Well, let’s try and focus on the first two advantages and not worry too much about the third. We’ve had plenty of their flavors. Fig sorbetto stands out as their best.
The first one we found was Perche No!. They’re the closest of the three and are located on one of the side streets between Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. There is a lot of foot traffic along this area all hours of the day and night, so not surprisingly there are gelaterias along this main street as well as each of the side streets. The side street gelaterias include Festival del Gelato, GROM, and Perche No!. While foodies seem to rave about GROM, and their lines seem to indicate that they have a solid fan base, Perche No! has several advantages. First, they offer 70 flavors which is much more than GROM’s 20 or so. Second, they are cheaper (€5 for two cups as opposed to €7 at GROM). Third, there is Sergio, one of the servers.
The first time we came into the shop he was mesmerized by Cinzia’s silver hair, and mesmerized is probably an understatement too. Every time since he’ll immediately notice Cinzia, shake his head, motion with his hand along the sides of his hair, and flash her a big smile. He can’t take his eyes off my wife, so much so that once he’s scooped her order he absent mindedly stands there holding my cup, unfilled, staring at her with a smile or engaging her in conversation. “Where have you been?” “How long are you in Florence?” “Beautiful hair.” Most of this in Italian.
Well, let’s try and focus on the first two advantages and not worry too much about the third. We’ve had plenty of their flavors. Fig sorbetto stands out as their best.
The second gelateria we found was Gelateria dei Neri. It’s just down the street between the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi Gallery. Neri really knows their chocolates. They offer the standard milk chocolate, plus dark chocolate, bitter chocolate, and black chocolate. Then there are the chocolate combination, like chocolate with chili pepper and pistachios, chocolate with orange, chocolate with hazelnut, etc. We’ve only stumbled upon their black chocolate once, but Cinzia has gone back often looking for this elusive flavor. They charge the standard €5 for two cups. In addition to gelato and sorbetto they also have 3 flavors of granita, and 3 flavors of semifreddo. There’s nothing bad to say about this place. The only thing they’re missing is a seating area.
The third place is La Carraia 2 which is a bit further away, near Santa Croce, but conveniently located on the same street as our favorite panino shop, Salumeria Verdi (more on them in a future blog). While this shop only offers 22 flavors, all of them are amazingly creamy. They do the traditional flavors well and offer a couple unique flavors. Our favorite is the Florentine cake with lemon cream. This gelato is a must if you’re ever in Florence. They also have the best dark cherry, crème caramel, mint chocolate, and coconut gelato. Their original store, La Carraia, is located just across the Arno. It offers more flavors, but doesn’t have the Florentine cake with lemon cream flavor. La Carraia 2 also has a nice outdoor seating area under an umbrella. Best of all their gelato is only €3 for two cups. We’ve been tempted a time or two to stay for seconds. This is our #1 gelateria in Florence (so far).
Well, that’s a recap of just six of the gelaterias we’ve tried in Florence. Check out the entire list under the Gelato-A-Day menu along with our Top 5 Flavors and running list of the flavors we’ve tried. All this talk about gelato is making me want some, so I’ll end this now.