Ice cream for all tastes: discovering the most enticing ice cream parlors

Summer is almost upon us. In many regions it has already arrived for a while and some lucky ones have already had the privilege of enjoying the pleasure of the first tan and the first everything at sea. However, sultriness, heat and high temperatures do not get along well with sweets: the chocolate melts, the creams are kept with difficulty. But there is one exception: artisanal ice cream, that delight for the palate and the senses that can bring everyone together, from children to grandparents. It can be enjoyed 365 days a year and is suitable for all occasions: as a dessert at the end of a lunch or dinner with friends, as a pleasure break from study or work, as a refreshing snack on an afternoon on the beach, as an excuse for a romantic walk.

Impossible not to love it, also because there really is (literally) for all tastes!

Italy can boast of being considered the motherland of this delicacy: ice cream is universally recognized as one of the symbols of our age-old gastronomic tradition and is enjoying success everywhere. All over the world there are tens of thousands of ice cream parlors, scattered in every corner of the planet: some boast local names, demonstrating the origins of the founders and the school of origin, while others are the fruit of the work and of the passion of people who, even if far away, have fallen in love with our excellence.

The design of the artisanal ice cream shop

The aspect that, more than the others, distinguishes an ice cream parlor from the others is the design, the style that constitutes its character and makes it unique and unmistakable. There is no right or wrong, but some tendencies are more dominant than others. Let’s try to summarize them in three categories, the most widespread at the moment.

1. Traditional atmosphere

This is what characterizes historic ice cream parlors, those that have remained practically as they have always been or those that, although restructured and renovated, have nonetheless kept faith with the original style. They are usually distinguished by the presence of bright, bright and captivating colours which aim to capture everyone’s gaze and attention, from the youngest to the oldest, and to invite them to enter.

2. Vintage – shabby atmosphere

The return to vintage is a fairly widespread trend that has been in vogue in recent years under various aspects: from design to clothing. There are many artisan ice cream parlors that are inspired by this style, characterized above all by the use of light colours: white and pastel shades in primis. This responds both to aesthetic questions and intends to suggest and instill in those who enter the idea of simplicity, naturalness, genuineness of the product: the white refers to the color of milk, while the pastel shades to that of an ice cream free of additives and colourings.

The use of furnishing and decorative elements in wood and made through the recovery of other objects instead suggests the idea of craftsmanship, of the handmade.

3. Industrial environment

Also in this case it is a fairly widespread trend in recent times. The aspect that distinguishes it is the presence of materials deliberately left exposed: iron and steel structures, walls in concrete or exposed brick, systems and ducts exhibited as furnishing elements. The predominant colors are contrasting: light and dark (concrete and glass vs iron and steel) and warm and cold (brick vs concrete). Around the scene there are sometimes also mechanical components of various kinds with the intention of recalling the idea of a laboratory, a place of production.

These are obviously general categories, which are not the rule: there are cases of ice cream parlors that go beyond any label or that, on the contrary, bring together elements and aspects of different styles.

A second element that discriminates between ice cream shops is the way the ice cream is displayed, stored inside refrigerated display specially designed and manufactured. Inside these, the various flavors are stored either in the sorbettiere, the trays in which the ice cream is visible, or in the carapine, the traditional buckets closed by lids. Impossible to establish which container is the most suitable: these are choices deriving from the school of thought of the master gelato maker and from aesthetic-stylistic preferences.

What is the best ice cream in Italy?

Since 2017 also the Gambero Rosso tried to give an answer to this question that makes the sweet tooth dream. In fact, starting this year, among the various guides created by this company, a new, seductive title has been added: Guide to ice cream parlors of Italy 2017. It analyzes those which, on the basis of the parameters considered, appear to be among the excellences of Italian gelato: the evaluations are expressed in cones, from 0 to 3 depending on the level achieved.

Of the more than 37,000 ice cream parlors present throughout the country, just over thirty have been able to obtain the coveted recognition of the three cones Gambero Rosso.

Let’s see ten of the most famous, in order from North to South.

1. Alberto Marchetti in Turin, Alassio and Milan

The ice cream is produced according to family recipes, favoring quality and carefully selected ingredients and raw materials. Without adding anything else, according to Marchetti himself.

2. Soban to Valenza and Alessandra

The ice cream maker Andrea Soban is a wandering spirit in constant search of new tastes, flavors and local excellence to enhance. He is an experimenter and proponent of zero kilometer gourmet ice cream.

3. The ice cream tree in Seregno, Cogliate and Monza

Local and very fresh ingredients, in some cases self-produced, in order to produce sustainable ice cream. As fascinating as tasty are the savory proposals! For some years they have also landed in the Big Apple, with stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

4. Bloom in Modena

Gourmet ice cream based on artisanal ingredients and limited use of sugar. Where possible you can even do without milk!

5. Ciacco – Gelato without a doubt in Parma, Milan and Bergamo

Also in this case the “definitely” of the name underlines the naturalness and purity of the raw materials and the final product. Some flavors are also suitable for vegan palates.

6. Cremeria Capolinea in Reggio Emilia

Gelato maker Simone De Feo loves to surprise with savory experiments, but, at the same time, he doesn’t disappoint with classic flavours. His ice cream comes from the collaboration with small local production communities and constantly rides the wave of the most current gastronomic and pastry trends.

7. De’ Coltelli in Pisa and Lucca

Ingredients and raw materials are strictly organic and produced within local and circumscribed micro-realities, such as yoghurt and sheep’s milk ricotta from the San Rossore park. Rare and purely Tuscan flavors without neglecting the gourmet touch.

8. Paolo Brunelli ice cream shop in Senigallia and Agugliano

Paolo Brunelli is a true master of contemporary ice cream: he offers unusual combinations that enhance the palate. The Gambero Rosso Gelaterie d’Italia 2017 guide also awarded him the Special Award for the best chocolate ice cream.

9. Otaleg! in Rome

The quality of master Marco Radicioni’s ice cream, considered by many experts to be the best in Rome, lies in the traditional, slow and painstaking process.

10. Di Matteo in Torchiara

In this tiny bar – ice cream parlor hidden in the province of Salerno, master Raffaele Del Verme enraptures the palates of customers with the simple and genuine tastes of local specialties.