Top 5 Gelaterias in Florence

Author: Gayane Simonyan

If you plan to visit Florence or you are already here and you are an ice-cream lover, don’t lose your chance to visit the best Gelaterias in Florence. I would recommend to definitely visit these ones.

1. Venchi

Venchi in Florence is working for 2 years already but they have many others throughout Italy. They come from Turin, and the history of their factory dates back to 1878.

 

Venchi - a culture based on values of tradition, quality and specialization. 130 years of passion and experience, where the selection of the best genuine ingredients is converted into 350 unique recipes.

“We have so many flavours of ice-cream even for the most wayward clients. We have also a great variety of chocolate that is worth trying. Taking an ice cream, chocolate or milkshake, coffee, and in the winter time hot chocolate, you can go upstairs to take a sit and enjoy your stay,” said Viviana, the manager of the gelateria.

She could see the unique point of their ice-cream shop being a very elegant place where you can try chocolate, coffee, snack bar, 28 ice cream flavours and have a sit at a quite graceful atmosphere.

The prices here start from 2.5 euros for a small cup of ice-cream with two flavours of your choice.

2. Perché no

From 1939 Perché no offers homemade ice-cream every morning, hence fresh every day. The whole making takes place in the laboratory using only the best available, natural and carefully chosen ingredients. Their production starts with milk, cream, sugar and eggs. There you can find also a small bunch of books to read and enjoy your ice-cream either inside or outside on a small open-air pavilion.

“Perché no is the oldest Gelateria in Florence. Every day we have a special sort of ice-cream which is “Ice-cream of the day”. Since this is a family business and we are four of us, we change the roles, except for the ice-cream maker who is always here to work,” said Valentina, the owner.

The price for an ice-cream with two flavours starts from 2 euros.

Florence as the home city of ice cream

via www.gelatofestival.it

by Ilaria Gelichi

Ice cream has a long history, and it’s much older than one could imagine. Something similar to ice cream already existed in ancient times but it was quite different from ours: the custom of cooling milk, fruit and honey was already widespread in the Far East, Greek and Turkey but also the Romans during their banquets used to consume chopped fruit mixed with honey and snow. However, these "mixtures" looked more like a sorbet than our ice cream, and it is in fact during the Middle Ages that in Sicily are prepared the first sorbets and ices, thanks to a new technique of freezing fruit learned from the Arabs and refined by the Sicilians.

But it’s during Renaissance and in Florence in particular that comes the luck of ice cream, which at this point looks quite similar to the one we know. According to legend, a poultry seller named Ruggeri won with his sorbet a contest held by the lords of Florence, the Medici, becoming famous throughout the region. The "ice cream" was put into moulds of various shapes, realizing sculptures that amazed the diners. When in 1533 Caterina de' Medici married Enrico d'Orleans and moved to Paris, wanted Ruggeri with her, who brought to France the tradition of ice cream, giving rise to its spread throughout Europe. In the same period, another Florentine contributed to the birth of the ice cream as we know it today: Bernardo Buontalenti, who was famous mostly as an artist and animator at the court of Cosimo I de 'Medici and was the first to freeze a cream made with milk and eggs. Having received the task of organizing the festivities to welcome a Spanish delegation, Buontalenti organized theater performances in the gardens and along the river Arno, a great show at the Fortezza da Basso, fireworks and prepared a cream flavored with bergamot, lemon and orange, frozen with a mixture of his own invention. Historical records show that it was the brilliant artist in person to think up an important innovation to conserve the snow. During the winter, the snow was normally collected and pressed in cellars lined with straw to keep it longer. Buontalenti created special cellars with an interspace, filled with cork and lined with wood to allow the flow of water as the ice melted. These cellars were located outside the city walls, in Via delle Ghiacciaie (ghiacciaia means icebox) - a road that still exists.

So nothing better than enjoying an ice cream in its home city, Florence!