What makes good gelato great?

Authored By Brian

Gelato includes egg making it creamier than ice cream. San Crispino Gelateria, near the Trevi Fountain at Via della Panetteria 42, is reputed to be the best

Honestly, I don’t know. After trying the crème (caramel) gelato tonight at the place that the NY Times and other regarded sources deemed the best gelati (don’t be caught calling the plural of gelato anything else) in Rome, if not all of Italy, I don’t really know the difference. They all seem to be creamy, rich, and full of flavor. But can you really say that one is so much better than another as to be called the best in Italy? It seems like a stretch. One thing that isn’t a stretch: the giant quantities that as little as 1.60 euros will earn you at 1am. Always get it in a cup, never the cone.

Luckily, we had ample people watching to keep us distracted as my cousin Patrick steered us around downtown Rome past the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, Piazza di Populo and Piazza di Nuovo. We also saw 97% of the alleys in Rome too as Patrick moved here just two months ago and his sense of direction still needs some fine tuning. Regardless, he fully delivered on his promise of demonstrating each last call couple consisting of one accent-thick Italian male and one scantily clad tourist female as the locals slum near closing hour. The only thing more entertaining are the rejected who are falling all over their friends as they stumble back towards their hostels.

Despite the “Dolce Vita” reputation of Rome, it’s a fairly early night city. The last call is somewhere around 2-3am and the Metro stops running at 11:30pm on weeknights and 12:30am on weekends. Not much different than San Francisco which has a pretty dismal nightlife relative to party towns like New York or Las Vegas. Still, the sheer volume of tourists guarantees there will be at least a few souls enjoying the warm nights until the last drop is gone. As incredible as Rome is during the day, it’s even more amazing at night.

Comments are closed.