With summer, the need for fresh food and drink increases exponentially. Italian Traditions has made a tour of the world of Made in Italy artisan ice cream, making a discovery that will surprise you. As Gambero Rosso also pointed out, there are places in the centre of Rome where the ice cream cone has reached extraordinary heights of quality. Invented in Sicily in the past centuries by Francesco Procopio, this delicious food quickly spread throughout Europe and the world. Today, it is one of the most popular and appreciated foods ever, constituting not only a garrison of goodness, but also a compound of ingredients around which to enjoy moments of relaxation and pleasant conviviality. The thousands of outlets scattered along the Peninsula, however, are not always synonymous with quality, so that finding the ideal ice-cream parlour is not so easy. In summer, then, with the heatwave gripping the cities and the hustle and bustle of tourists, there is little room to search for ice-cream parlours where skilful craftsmen can satisfy our palate. So we often settle for the freshness of a cone in the hope that it will also taste good.
In Rome, a tourist city par excellence, a destination for pleasure trips and more, there are ice-cream parlours without equal, where value for money is amply respected. The quality of the ice creams has allowed them to enter the elite of artisan ice cream producers. The range of flavours on offer also includes gourmet ice creams, with creative combinations of flavours and a special presentation for customers.
Among the noteworthy establishments, con-gelato.it points to the Torcè ice cream parlour, with four outlets in the capital offering over a hundred different flavours of ice cream. Here, every gourmand can indulge in highly digestible ingredients with gluten-free, lactose-free and 100 per cent vegan options. Twenty-five years of experience that also includes chocolate and has added new interpretations to the art of ice cream thanks to the vision of chef Juraj Detvaj. At Torcè you can also enjoy savoury cones with the innovative carbonara flavour and mortadella with pistachio. A palmarès of successes, with Tre Coni by Gambero Rosso for the seventh consecutive year and the award for ‘Best Chocolate in Italy Gambero Rosso’ | Premio Spaciale 2019.
Cannolo Siciliano is also worth a look. With a motto that sounds like a whole programme: ‘The authentic taste of tradition’. This is an ice-cream parlour and pastry shop in Rome that uses only high quality raw materials and whose pistachio, Sicilian of course, is in great demand. Its strong point is to offer products that respect seasonality, therefore genuine and of great quality. The menu presents a wide range of flavours from breakfast to aperitifs. Strong points are chocolate in its six variants, with alternatives also in rum and vegan, and ‘fine masses from Peru, Madagascar and Venezuela’. If, as the ancients used to say, there is an omen in the name, a must is the ricotta ice cream with cannoli wafers as tradition commands.
And then there is Formaessenza, the artisanal on-sight laboratory run by master ice-cream maker Stefano Ferrara. It is a taste avant-garde in the Marconi area, which plays with the classic canons of ice cream, overcoming and reinterpreting them. The offer to customers includes first choice raw materials and an innovative ice cream presentation. So goodbye to cones and cups and room for a new way of serving ice cream.
A project that synthesises the meeting of food tradition and the fruit of long studies with a careful eye on health and well-being. Formaessenza is committed to using only one form of sugar, never more than 14%, and each ice cream is free of colouring agents, emulsifiers and artificial preservatives. Research and creativity as the philosophy of Stafano Ferrara, who shares this experience with his wife Alesandra Painosi: the aim is to offer ice cream in new ways to make people experience beyond the boundaries of taste.