Gelateria in Rome

In my 4 prior visits to Rome, I took on the arduous and burdensome task of searching for the most delicious gelato in the city. As is the case in most Italian cities, there are gelateria on practically every piazza. Most are average, but every now and then a truly outstanding place crops up. If you're on the hunt for really good gelato, here are 2 color guidelines that are helpful:

1. Pistachio - every shop has it, but examine the color very carefully. Is it an unearthly or florescent green color? If so, you have entered a bad gelateria. If the pistachio is more of a muted sage green, then you're in a good one.
2. Banana - another color examination is in order. Good banana gelato should be a rather unappetizing grey color not vibrant yellow.

If the gelateria passes the color test, you can order any of the flavor with a high degree of certainly that it will be excellent.

One of my favorite gelateria in Rome is Giolitti on Via degli Uffici del Vicario. It appears to be only 600 feet from our apartment. It's been around since 1900. It reminds me of the soup restaurant in the Seinfeld episodes. The service here is very unpleasant. The last time I was there, the cashier was mean to me because I misunderstood the charge and handed her too many euros. Despite the bad service, the gelato is yummy.

My other favorite is called San Crispini. It's also really good gelato and they have some great flavors. The serving size is very small which I like because then i don't feel bad having more than 1 per day. They refuse to serve gelato in a cone because, they feel it detracts from the flavor. It's about 800 ft from where we're staying on Piazza della Maddalena.

I'm very excited to try out a place near Piazza Navonna called Gelateria al Teatro. It's on Via San Simone. It is a artiginale gelateria which means it produces small quantities using the best ingredients possible. They have some really interesting flavors.

That each of these places is so close to our apartment is a dream come true.