The title might be Never Have I Ever because though there was a strong consensus, we did have the odd difference, which is only natural. However, on our Reunion in Rome in 2023, everything Gelato was to be at the forefront of our focus. The Reunion comprised the Three Original dreamers who spent the monsoon in the mid-90s madly experimenting with our little hand-cranked wooden bucket. One day, thunder and lightning struck, and we could produce what we reckoned was true Artisan ice cream following the standards set by Steve Herrell, our beloved Ice Cream Guru, whose magic revolutionised Ice Cream at the time.
Twenty-three years later, it was time to head to Italy and learn from the very best, absorb a ton of information, ask every question, imbibe their culture –true love and respect for the craft of making Ice Cream – Primarily for love and then perhaps the steps towards a profession that is highly regarded, respected and valued. To share our experiences and methodology with them and discuss techniques, machines, problems, freezing times, milk, cream, eggs, sorbets, vegan options and sugar. The whole experience was to be about knowledge and love – to embrace a lifestyle where the love of Ice Cream or, in their language, Gelato is an art, a passion deeply ingrained into the culture.
In the last quarter of a century, Italian tradition has taken Ice Cream to gain acceptance as a cuisine of the highest echelon. Like with most food, it’s about the excellence and purity of ingredients, the methodology and tools, but most of all, the love and passion and the ability to absorb and learn from mistakes and yet continue to push boundaries that set aside the “Gods” from the mortals. Yet there is always time to keep learning, absorbing new forms of excellence and trying to achieve them by maintaining new standards, and someday returning to tell the master craftsmen and women a tale or two! A huge thank you to so many artists who were so willing to share their knowledge and answer all our questions, and we would like to hope that occasionally we will be in a position to put in a word or two as well, considering it has been 25 years now, making Ice Cream. Over time, we will attempt to emulate some of the names below. We can certainly do our best.
Meanwhile, here is a list of the most incredible Gelato or Ice Cream experiences from our Italian Gelato Expenditure of the Summer of 2023 and updated with the experience of Rome, Firenze and Bologna in 2025; The latter two cities with the reputation of being the true heartland of Italian and thus World Gelato. This learning expedition was about to become the culinary experience that makes the world a better place. We experienced the love of Ice Cream like never before. The Gelato took us to levels of food joy never yet experienced – Our senses taken on a ride, tingling like never before. Most of our Italian experience was excellent; some was Food From The Gods perfection. It was impossible to go wrong. The only undeniable thing was only those who eat McDonald’s in Italy or go to Starbucks rather than an Italian Café will be found devouring a Wall’s Cornetto or Magnum instead of freshly made Gelato—only them.
So, NEVER HAVE I EVER HAD ICE CREAM or GELATO AS AMAZING AS THIS IN MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE TO DATE.
The Best Ice Cream, according to The Hot Spot in 2025 (Updated Version), is.
It is virtually impossible to separate the finest among them and almost unfair even to try, but the following were simply flawless and beyond. Barrochino, a small outlet in the town centre, had us returning three times within a single day. Our Vanilla fiend scored their Vanilla as a perfect Spinal Tap-esque eleven out of ten, citing it as the best she had ever encountered. It was out of this world. Their Crema too hit the spot like no other, and considering that is one of Italian Gelato’s staple flavours, that was high praise indeed. On an adjacent street was the oddly named Perch No? It is run by a mother-and-daughter team, and it lived up to its reputation with absolutely stunning and flawless gelato and yet Barrochino’s Vanilla still held its position as the finest of the lot. In Bologna, the home of Gelato, where the University was where yours truly learned to ply the art, the competition was at an ultimate high. Sable Gelato is a one-man show, but what a show it is. The genial fellow who runs it has a passion for his art beyond most mortals. His shop is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays because he is outsourcing the finest ingredients in the land with which he creates small quantities of his magic. He wakes up at 5 am each morning and makes his gelato fresh every day, and normally sells out by the time he closes up at 7 pm. He has won several contests locally, nationally and worldwide and ranks among the finest of Italy’s gelato makers, and his product is a testament to his devotion. You can hardly go wrong when you pour your heart and soul into your work as Allesandro does. Gelateria Cavour has some nasty reviews on Google with people complaining about rude service, but we had no such issues. It is upmarket and lies within a very trendy mall containing high-end fashion and luxury brands, but it wouldn’t be fair to hold that against them. The gelato there was flawless. Cremeria La Vecchia Stalla was in the same category of brilliance as Gelatiere Gallery 49 (both of Bologna), and then there was the understated, unpretentious B. Ice of Florence that may not have won awards for their presentation, but their product was simply superb.
A+
Barrochino
Perche No?
Gelatiere Cavour
Sable Gelato
Cremeria la Vecchia Stalla
Gelatiere Gallery 49
B. Ice
These three were the cream of the crop with innovative flavours and a stunning level of quality. Flawless. The Best Ice Cream I have ever had the joy of experiencing.
A Gelateria Fassi
Fabulous Gelato. Flawlessly brilliant.
A- La Sorbetteria Castiglione Gelateria Fata Morgana
Fiocco Di Neve
Gelateria Della Palma
Lemongrass Gelato
Otaleg!
Gunther
The quirkily named Otaleg! Enjoys a strong following and has earned quite a reputation for its excellent Gelato. Perhaps the difference between these and the outlets ranked higher is that they aren’t quite as interesting regarding the more unusual flavours. Gunther had the most incredible chocolate. A young brother and sister team runs Lemongrass Gelato, and they are determined to earn a name for themselves, producing the most delightful flavours using excellent ingredients.
B+ Retro Gelato
iTropici Gelato
Gelateria Aurelia
Come il Latte
Giolitti
Of these outlets, Come il Latte enjoys a massive reputation. We found each of these outlets to offer a very high standard of product indeed. Other than Come il Latte, they were all reasonably small outlets with restricted space and, therefore, some flavours that would be on and off being available. Yet the quality of their Gelato was top-notch. Come il Latte was excellent and supposedly made Gelato on order on the spot, any flavour you wanted. I had been thinking of shocking them by asking them to churn me up a “Meetha Paan” flavour, undoubtedly the most unforgivable idea yet. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but it could! Venchi has been well-established for years and has a flourishing fancy outlet in London. The highly rated iTropici had its charm, and tellingly, all their clientele, other than us, were locals on our two or three visits.
Giolitti is an Institution, and it is easy to see just why. Yet somehow there was the feeling that Giolitti was cashing in on its name, past laurels and tradition, and it was noticeable that most of its customers came from tourists, many of them following a tour guide. Their gelato was very good indeed, though not memorable.
B Venchi
Gelateria Millenium
Gelateria Millennium was again an excellent and satisfying Gelato, yet it also begged the question of being made from a packaged Mix. The experience shows that the Packaged Mixes in Italy are of very high quality. The seasoned connoisseur will also learn the difference between the real thing and Gelato made from a Packet without too much trouble. Any Gelateria that reverts to using packaged mixes rather than organic ingredients is only in it for profit, not the love of the product. Venchi is top-of-the-line Gelato, yet it’s a prolific chain that produces exquisite gelato and yet none of the flavours are quite at the level of the smaller, more specialised outlets. The word generic comes to mind, but if this is the quality of generic, it is pretty excellent.
C Gelateria Dei Gracchi
The Gelatist
GROM
Dei Gracchi was disappointing, with the Gelato marred by discernible bits of ice. For a highly-rated outlet, this was a bit of a turn-off. I walked away thinking maybe we just visited them at the wrong time on an off day.
The Gelatist had little outlets all over town, and maybe because it was a large chain rather than a few outlets, the product appeared more generic and middle-of-the-road. They were catering to the broader crowd and losing a little edge. Maybe even a hint of using Pre-Mix packaged mixes? The suspicion did arise with the flavours being so uniform and generic. Indeed excellent Gelato, though, but perhaps not outstanding.
Grom was the exception among the gelatos we tried. Though they have outlets, they also mass produce their product for sale in supermarkets and corner stores. Though their range of Gelato was impressive and the ones we sampled perfectly enjoyable, there was an apparent gulf between a freshly churned Gelato and one that needs to be compromised to be long-lasting, sometimes for weeks or months in a supermarket freezer. Though Grom was a delicious gelato, it had all the hallmarks of a large-scale, factory-produced product. It is reliable as it will always be the same, and yet generic because it is mass-produced on a vast scale for the entire nation and beyond.
Comparing GROM with many of the shops mentioned above that use 100% natural ingredients and churn their own Gelato daily cannot be compared to the perfection of a machine-made product. That said, if you can’t get your hands on handmade Gelato and must rely on the supermarket for convenience, you can hardly go wrong with GROM, even if you can order from an outlet that does make their Gelato Fresh! There is no shortage to select from, but don’t be surprised to find there is little room for American chains such as Baskin and Robbins, not the force they were 50 years ago, nor will you find the more recent chain that is known more for their poor servers having to burst into song every few minutes rather than the quality of their Ice Cream. It is noticeable that only the tourists will douse their Gelato with bits of Oreos, sprinkles, sparkles, Smarties or masses of Chocolate or Caramel sauce. Fortunately, the dreadful notion of Instagrammable food hasn’t yet displaced quality food. Mercifully, you won’t find “loaded” this or that, nor will you find revolting dollops of chilled processed cream fused with cookies serenading as Real Dairy Ice Cream. (dire economic driving equally alarming food trends). Thousands risk everything to reach Italian shores daily, so many tragically don’t make it.
Non-Italian brands, such as those serving fluorescent and beautiful flavours like Cotton Candy and bubble gum, don’t stand a chance. Not even the French. Not in Italy.
D Romeo Gelateria
Romeo Gelateria and several of its kind thrive because they are in a spot infested by tourists. These outlets are more about flashy presentation and compromised non-traditional, overpriced Gelato flavours, and most use packaged mixes for their product. You will unlikely find Romans queuing outside Gelato shops such as the Romeo Gelato; they know better. Some might call Rome and its kind of Tourist Traps. Romeo Gelato was the only one on an extended trip that ended up in the bin; it was mediocre, and I needed stomach space for better!
F Walls’ Cornetto & Magnum – These are available widely at corner shops all over the city. Unilever, the owners of Walls, Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s and General Mills, USA, the owners of Häagen-Dazs, respectively. (You didn’t believe Häagen-Dazs had anything to do with Scandinavia, did you?) Both conglomerates know how to do a job and do it remarkably well. That aside, the true blasphemy is to experience Italy and devour Cornettos and Magnums by choice rather than their incredible local Gelato. Not that we would ever refuse a Magnum coated with real Dark Chocolate, but maybe not in Italy!
A Shout-Out to the brilliant Tizziano, who served us at Gunther and was so helpful with all sorts of information. Including a demonstration and instructions on all kinds of aspects of Gelato Making. We will be eternally grateful for the tips. Thank you also to the lovely, warm service with a smile from the ladies serving their magic at Cremeria Aurelia.
Today, we unanimously agreed that the Gelato served at the A+ category was the finest we had ever experienced in life thus far, with others pushing them all the way.
The Hot Spot Award for the finest Ice Cream on the planet in 2023 goes to one of Barrochino.
Perche No?,Gelatiere Cavour,Cremeria Santo Stefano,Cremeria la Vecchia Stalla of Bologna and Florence, Italy.
We have already planned to return for round 3 of The Gelato Expedition next year to see if these outlets can defend this “accolade.” The planned trip can also be interpreted as a flimsy excuse for gorging on masses of magnificent Gelato all over again. But then, in our world, life is too short not to devour as much Freshly churned Gelato as soon as possible!
