Gelato

Explore la bellezza of Italy.

If you walk through the cobblestone streets and piazzas in Italy, you will undoubtedly see people of all ages enjoying a cone or cup of gelato.

The term gelato refers to ice cream, but the actual word in Italian means frozen. Gelato and ice cream are both creamy frozen treats that contain milk, cream, sugar and flavorings. Gelato uses more milk and less cream than ice cream and generally doesn’t use egg yolk, which is a common ingredient in ice cream.

Gelato is also denser than ice cream. While ice cream can have 50 percent or more air churned into it, gelato has 20 to 30 percent. Gelato is also served 10 to 15 degrees warmer than ice cream so the warmer temperature reinforces the creamy texture of the gelato and the bold flavours.

As for gelato flavours, you can enjoy cioccolato, fragola, limone, stracciatella, pistachio, fior di latte, nocciola, and Tiramisù, just to name some of the more popular flavours.

If you like espresso, you may also want to try an affogato. Affogato means drowned in Italian. You simply pour espresso over a cup of vanilla gelato, and enjoy.

When you are in Italy, there is no shortage of places to buy gelato. There are over 39,000 gelato shops in Italy (10,000 pure gelaterias and 29,000 bars and pastry shops serving gelato).