No, thanks, maybe: gelato, sorbetto, grattachecca, San Pietrino … spoiled for choice!

We Romans are complicated people: we are not satisfied with an “ice cream”, as happens in many other places in the world. We have a thousand ways to enjoy the “cold dessert”!

Here is a small list of the typical proposals that you will find wandering through the streets of Rome. Let’s start with the sorbetto, for those who want to keep it light, perhaps at the end of a meal, to “degrease” their mouth. In fact, sorbets do not contain milk or animal derivatives, but only water, fresh or dried fruit, natural flavors, sugars, vegetable fats or dried fruit fats. Sometimes they are flavored with alcohol. So they are delicate, fresh and  very light iced creams!

Instead, both Italian gelato and the typical American “ice cream” contain milk, whether they are cream or fruit flavored. But with a small difference: Italian ice cream makes you fat less! In fact, by law it can contain a maximum of 8% fat. And a good artigianale (homemade) ice cream, if made properly, contains 5%!

On the other hand, its American competitor, ice cream, always – by law – must contain more than 10% fat! And in fact the name itself explains how there is more cream inside: cream!

A little parenthesis on the word “ARTIGIANALE” (artisanal). Not all gelato parlors can boast this quality mark. Artigianale means gelato is produced on site, and not in a factory or even just in another location. It also means using fresh, unprocessed ingredients, and also processing without “injecting” air to inflate and store, or other chemical additives.

In fact, the way to produce an industrial “ice cream” is very different from the typical Italian gelato: industrial processing takes place at very low temperatures (-18 degrees C, -0.4 degrees F) and, by law, it can be “added” up to 100% of its weight plus pure AIR! And for this reason, you can see the crystallizations, because this humid, icy air, which creates double the product at zero price and helps keep the ice cream in the freezer even for months. On the contrary, in handcrafted gelato,that can be produced only in small quantities, it is creamy and dense, and must be consumed within 2-3 days.

And one more variant, a little more wintery (but not necessarily!). A cold-hot gelato. How about an ice cream whose cone is filled with exquisite hot chocolate and then covered with frozen gelato? You can find this either in the La Romana chain of  gelato shops, or at Come il Latte.

But I was saying, the Romans are people full of inventiveness. And then we have for example the San Pietrino, which you will find exclusively in the oldest gelato shop in town: Fassi, the Palazzo del Ghiaccio. It is a small square shaped gelato, covered with chocolate in the shape of the classic “sasso di basalto” (black volcanic stone. It reminds the little “black stones” that paves the most important streets and squares of Rome. Why is it called San Pietrino? Easy: because this type of pavement was first used in St. Peter’s Square in 1500 and has since become the typical pavement of the city.

And then, how can you leave Rome without having tried the Grattachecca? The word: “gratta”, from the verb to scratch, and “checca” which in Roman dialect means “piece of ice”, gives an idea of ​​what it is. A block of ice, grated (like Parmesan!) Strictly by hand! And then, according to the customer’s choice, drowned in delicious syrups, sprinkled with fresh or dried fruit and enjoyed first with very icy and then slowly, all the way, when it turns into a cream! Along the Tiber, the river of Rome, you can find several historic kiosks where you need to arm yourself with patience and queue up to win this delight.

You will say: but is it like a granita (slush)?! Oh no, the granita is ice already mixed with a syrup, even before freezing, and then shredded by a machine, not by hand! There is a whole other taste …!

Now the choice is yours! or maybe one a day …!