Rome: The best gelatos in town

Hi!!! I'm finally done with my exams and back frm my short trip to Prague and Rome! In fact, I just got back from Rome ytd night! I had a wonderful time in both places and can't wait to share my experience with everyone!

Decided to do a short entry on the gelatos I've tried in Rome cos I really don't wanna start studying for my multi-station exams nxt wk (lol procrastinating again...) Anyhowz, I had so much gelato during my 5 days in Rome! I had a cup everyday and on some days, I had 2 cups!!! Sucha pig!
I knw gelato is somewhat different frm ice cream but sorry, I'm just a dental student, so I can't appreciate the difference between the two. Kinda googled a bit on this and read that there's different milk/ cream content and fat content in both of them but whatever, both gelato and ice cream are cold, taste good and are comfort food to me!!! So to me, they are essentially the same thing, end of story.

If you didn't knw, I used to work part time in an ice cream shop before I started college, so I can be rather picky when it comes to ice cream! Hopefully this will be an accurate review of what to expect of Italian gelatos!

Oh and almost all of the gelato places don't have an English signboard so it'll be good to know what some Italian words mean otherwise you wouldn't knw what you're ordering! Here's a list of the basic flavours you might come across:
Cioccolato -- chocolate
Bacio - chocolate and nuts
Stracciatella -- chocolate chips
Cannella -- cinnamon
Mandorla -- almond
Nocciola -- hazelnut
Crema -- egg custard
Fragola -- strawberry
Lampone -- raspberry
Albicocca -- apricot
Mela -- apple
Ananas -- pineapple
Malaga -- rum and raisin

During my trip, I made it a point to check out at least 1 popular gelateria in Rome everyday! Here are the few places I visited:

Gelateria I Caruso

Via Collina 13-15
Nearest metro stop: Repubblica

 

After dinner on the first night, I was still feeling a little peckish and was craving for some gelato. Decided to google the nearest gelateria in the area and found I Caruso! Took a slow walk over and got myself a small cup -- biscotti and pistachio flavour!

Sad to say... the gelato here was just average? It wasn't spectacular and the sccoper couldn't really speak English/ he didn't really seem interested in serving me. I absolutely cannot tolerate bad service (lol when I worked part time as a scooper, I made a point to smile whenever I served ice cream to the customers)

 

So will I go back for more gelato? The answer is... NO! This place is kinda out of the way unless you're staying near the area. And although there's a wide variety (abt 15 flavours), most places in Rome offered a wide selection of flavours too. SKIP.

 

Grom

6 outlets including:

Via della Maddalena 30A

Nearest landmark: Pantheon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greedy face

I visited Grom twice! Not becos I love it, but becos I wanted to try their other flavours lol. And also, cos it was conveniently located and the queue wasn't too crazy. I tried their strawberry, egg cream, apple pie and one other flavour which I cannot rmb (haha probably means that the flavour wasn't that amazing) The apple pie flavour was their flavour of the month and it was pretty nice with little bits inside! The egg cream tasted pretty weird to me...

Even though the ice cream was pretty much average too, I kinda like this place? It seemed more organized than the other gelaterias I visited and the servers were nice and didn't rush me even though I took a while to decide on what flavours to get.

 

Verdict: I will probably pop by to get a gelato fix if I'm craving for one and I see a Grom outlet around!

 

Giolitti

Via Uffici del Vicario 40
(Just round the corner frm Grom, Via della Maddalena branch)

Nearest landmark: Pantheon

 

 

He was juggling between 2 cones!

Haha ice cream on his face!

 

Giolitti is perpetually crowded. We walked past it twice and both times, it was packed!!! Read that this was the oldest ice cream parlour in Rome. Hmm maybe that's why it attracts so many tourists.
Unlike the other places, you're supposed to pay at the counter and get your receipt to claim your scoops at the gelato counter. There's a wide variety of flavours here but becos everyone's crowding around the display, so it's pretty hard to see what flavours are available. And also, everything's in Italian so I've no idea what flavours there are except for the basic few.

Read online that this place served really good nutella ice cream so I tried that. Got the scooper to recommend me a flavour and when I say recommend, I expected him to tell me what's good but he just scooped sth and placed it on my cone??? I don't even knw what he gave me... I think it's cream or sth along those lines. NOT impressed by his attitude.
The nutella was really thick. It didn't taste so much like ice cream though. It was more of like eating nutella out of the tub, except it's less viscous. I love nutella but I didn't enjoy the nutella gelato. It's too thick and after a few licks, I felt kinda grossed out cos I couldn't stop thinking abt the amount of calories lol. The other flavour wasn't anything special, in fact it was rather meh. Got a feeling the scooper just gave that flavour to me cos it was right in front of him and he wanted me to chop chop hurry go.

Verdict: I'd say check this place out when you're in Rome simply becos it's the oldest ice cream parlour and it's really popular with tourists. But I probably won't head back there becos it's just too crowded and in my honest opinion, the gelato was just average. Maybe it's cos I got the wrong flavours?
Oh and although Giolitti is a café, you're not allowed to sit down to have your gelato unless you order sth else frm the café. So basically, everyone just stands outside to eat their gelato!

San Crispino

5 outlets including:

Via della Panetteria 42

Nearest metro station: Barberini

 

Feeling really excited abt my ice cream!

 

This place is famous for their honey flavour! I got myself honey, ginger cinnamon and one other flavour which I cannot rmb haha. The honey was pretty nice but it wasn't wowza. Ginger cinnamon was okay too, nothing fantastic.

Plus points to San Crispino for having lovely scoopers who didn't rush me to decide on my flavours and they even made the effort to joke with me even though there were people queueing up behind me! All ice cream shops shld be giving off these kinda vibes!

 

Verdict: I promised the scoopers I'd go back for more ice cream (simply becos they were really nice to me) but I didn't have the time to make a trip back! What a pity! But yes, do visit this place for their honey ice cream!

 

Flor

4 outlets including:

Via Cavour 337

Nearest metro station: Colosseo

 

 

 

 

OMG I LOVE THIS GELATERIA THE MOST!!!!! Plz visit this place when you're in Rome! They've outlets in other parts of the world too! And I just found out that they're opening an outlet in Singapore!!!! I am so excited!

I visited this place TWICE on my last day in Rome simply cos I couldn't get enough of their gelato! Their pomegranate flavour was absolutely divine!! It was really refreshing and I really love it!!! I tried their tiramisu, cherry and Sicilian cassata cake flavour! All were really good too!
The ice cream shop I worked at before served one of the best tiramisu ice cream I've ever had and Flor's tiramisu was equally good!

The scooper was really nice! Becos it was kinda quiet in the morning and we were the only customers, she allowed us to sample most of the flavours they had. I'm so glad I sampled the pomegranate flavour becos it's just not one of the flavours I'd usually go for. I don't usually get fruity flavours unless it's banana (I love bananas!!!) But the minute I tried the pomegranate flavour, it was really love at first lick... I'm still thinking abt it now!!!

If you only have time to visit 1 gelateria in Rome/ can only afford enough calories for 1 scoop of gelato, plz just go for the pomegranate flavour in Flor!!!!! You definitely won't regret it!

Gelateria Old Bridge

3 outlets including:

Via della Scala 69-70
(In Trastevere)
 

 

 

Old Bridge was kinda like a chance finding! It was on my list of gelato places to visit in Rome but I thought they only had one outlet near Vatican City. And since it was too much of a hassle to go back to Vatican City to find this gelateria, I decided to skip it.

 

So when I walked past Old Bridge in Trastevere, I was like, "Wait a minute, is this the famous Old Bridge gelateria?" The shop looked really basic! There were no fancy sign boards etc. I was really skeptical initially. I thought maybe it's a "fake" Old Bridge gelateria haha. But anyway I decided to try their gelato just in case it's the "real" famous Old Bridge.

 

And after the first lick, I was convinced that this place is the real deal! The gelato was really good!!!! I had their hazelnut and another flavour which I really can't rmb! And the hazelnut was really good! Very rich and creamy! I love it!

If you're in Trastevere, plz visit this place for some gelato! Alternatively, you can check out their outlet near Vatican City!

 

That's abt all the gelato places I visited during my trip! I can't believe I ate so much gelato during my trip! Just thinking abt the amount of fats I needa shed makes me wanna cry. But it's okay, I mean after all, it's not everyday that I get to have such awesome gelatos.

 

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Rome and Prague! X