If there is one thing that is synonymous with Italy, aside from its pasta, it is that ice cold delicious sweet gelato on a cone that has become a common sight in every Italian city. Walking down the streets of Rome, it’s no surprise that I would see a gelato shop everywhere I look, either as a standalone gelato shop or as part of a cafe.
While seeing that much options around me was a good problem to have, it was a challenging task to find a good one that was worth the calories; especially for someone like me who was up for a gelato break any time of the day.
Instead of winging it and gaining calories that I would come to regret after my trip, I decided to give Google with the impossible task of finding a worthy gelato place for me to enjoy. So, armed with Google Maps, I embarked on a search for worthy gelato places to try with two main criteria: the gelato shop had to have more than a 4.5 rating and a high number of reviews.
TERRA GELATO
Google rating: 4.7
Google reviews: 181
After a long journey from the airport to my Air BNB, I wanted nothing more than to have a nice, comforting sweet treat that would help relieve the stress of having sat in traffic for more than 2 hours. Even though Terra Gelato was not a very highly reviewed place, it did have one of the highest ratings and was of the closest proximity to me — a very weary traveller.
Terra Gelato was unlike any gelato shop I had expected with its snazzy interiors that looked like one of those newly established hip, artisanal gelato places.
To match with its presentation, Terra offers a variety of gelato flavours which included some of the traditional flavours as well as interesting new ones like Hallelujah, a hazelnut centric flavour; Nocciola Salata E Pesche, salted hazelnut with roasted peaches and prosecco; and Ai Terra, white chocolate with mixed berries balsamic sauce and caramelised black pepper.
While I would have loved to say I tried some interesting new flavours, I am a bit of a boring foodie and opted to go with flavours that I know I would enjoy — Stracciatella, Salted Caramel and Terramisu (the shop’s take on the Italian dessert).
For those unfamiliar with Stracciatella, this is a like a chocolate chip flavour featuring fine strands of dark chocolate chips scattered in a vanilla ice cream base.
I have never been able to find a good Stracciatella here in Singapore, so I had really high hopes for this particular flavour in Rome, and I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint. Not only was the vanilla ice cream base not too sweet (possibly due to the use of organic grass-fed cow milk), the dark chocolate strands were scattered generously enough to offer a nice texture with each spoon full.
Another flavour that greatly impressed was the Salted Caramel which had a good ratio of salty and sweet with a milky texture that didn’t feel overtly rich. It even had bits of caramel in it which gave the gelato some bite, breaking the monotony of plain ice cream.
The Terramisu, on the other hand, was a disappointment as I couldn’t quite taste the Tiramisu flavour. It felt more like a plain mascarpone ice cream than a well-rounded taste like the dessert. I would have preferred if there was either a more distinct coffee or kahlua taste, or maybe bits of sponge fingers to really bring out the unique flavour of a Tiramisu.
Though I did not enjoy the Terramisu, Terra Gelato ultimately became my go-to gelato shop in Rome (after having tried a few other places). My companions and I ended up frequenting the shop so much during our stay that we ended up befriending the staff there and earning ourselves the nickname “the milkshake people”.
If you ever visit Terra Gelato, take a peek at their guest book and try and spot the message we left behind!
Terra Gelato is located at P.zza Santa Maria Maggiore, 9, 00185 Roma RM, Italy.
GELATERIA S.M.MAGGIORE
Google rating: 4.7
Google reviews: 2,597
Despite the rather gloomy and rainy day I was having on our second day in Rome, I always found an excuse to cajole my companions into a gelato break while navigating the streets.
Gelateria S.M.Maggiore had been one of the shops I found the day before but didn’t make the cut after I realised I had to walk 10 minutes away from my AirBNB when I was already exhausted from the long car ride.
Nevertheless, since we were near the gelato shop now, I decided to make everyone take a little pitstop.
Tucked away in a corner on the side of a street and hidden behind one of those news stands/souvenir shops stood Gelateria S.M.Maggiore. Though it had an unassuming shop front, it was easy to know you’ve reached the place when you see a group of people standing around outside with cones and cups in their hands.
Having been wowed by the variety of flavours at Terra the day before, I was a little underwhelmed at the options I saw at this gelato shop which had more traditional flavours available, along with some vegan flavours for those who prefer them.
As the flavours were not as exciting as we had preferred, my companions and I opted to share a medium cup of gelato and each decided to choose a flavour. I obviously went with my favourite Stracciatella, while they went with Caramel and Dark Chocolate Orange.
I had initially thought that the Stracciatella at Gelateria S.M.Maggiore tasted better than Terra Gelato because it seemed to have more dark chocolate strands, which was something I really liked about the flavour. But, as I continued through my portion of the gelato cup, I found myself getting more and more tired of the overall taste because the milky base of the gelato overpowered the bitterness of the dark chocolate shards.
It also tasted a lot denser and creamier than a typical scoop of gelato which was light and would sometimes have this almost ice texture.
While I only tasted a little of the other two flavours, I was definitely not impressed by them as I felt they tasted a lot more like ice cream than gelato. They were also a lot sweeter than I would have preferred, especially the Dark Chocolate Orange which also had a very distinctive citrus note that overpowered the other flavours.
Gelateria S.M.Maggiore is located at Via Cavour, 93a/95, 00184 Roma RM, Italy.
OLD BRIDGE GELATERIA
Google rating: 4.6
Google reviews: 5,622
After a visit to the famous St Peter’s Basilica, we decided to take a break at Old Bridge Gelateria, a small but gelato shop that was not only highly popular with the tourists but also came highly recommended by a priest.
It’s not difficult to see how this little shop had become one that was a must-visit amongst tourists when we were served by three spritely young lads who not only spoke basic English but had also powdered their responses to us in basic Mandarin.
Service aside, the flavour options at Old Bridge were unfortunately not as wide as I had liked. It didn’t my companions and I much time to decide on three flavours to share. We went with my standard Stracciatella, a traditional Strawberry, and Hazelnut — the priest’s favourite flavour.
Even though I only had two days’ worth of Stracciatella tasting in Rome, I had considered myself a bit of an expert and could immediately tell that Old Bridge’s version wasn’t really on par with the other two gelato shops I visited.
This was due to the dark chocolate shards that they used which seemed to have more of a sweet taste and lacked the bitterness that would have helped to balance out the already sweet and milky base of the gelato.
While Strawberry technically came out the winner amongst the flavours that we chose, it was only good to a certain extent because there was a slight artificial sweetness to it. I felt that it would have came out on top if there were more sour notes to it instead.
As much as we tried to find a way to like the priest’s favourite flavour, we definitely had a hard time appreciating the flavour though we did like that it was probably the least sweet out of the three flavours. Unlike Nutella (a common hazelnut comparison), Old Bridge’s Hazelnut offered a pure nutty flavour that could either come across super fragrant or pungent.
In my case, the flavour seemed fragrant when I first tasted it but as time went by, it became challenging to finish this portion of the gelato as the taste just overwhelms the taste buds, making it hard to taste anything else without that lingering nutty essence.
If given the chance to re-do my order at Old Bridges, I would have just swapped Hazelnut out for a good ‘ol pistachio flavour.
Old Bridge Gelateria is located at Viale dei Bastioni di Michelangelo, 5, 00192 Roma RM, Italy.
GELATERIA LA ROMANA
Google rating: 4.7
Google reviews: 9,381
Venturing beyond the usual tourist routes of Rome, my companions and I found ourselves in the suburban parts of Rome where apartment blocks lined the streets, almost reminiscent of HDB blocks back in Singapore.
Much like Singapore, these apartment blocks have different types of shops in the vicinity ranging from a sushi restaurant to a bakery and a gelato shop — Gelateria La Romana. Because of the distance away from the city centre where tourists are aplenty, this was the first time we found ourselves in a bit of a language pickle as we struggled to satisfy our gelato craving.
The menu in store did not have any English translation of any kind, the staff spoke minimal English, and though we tried to use Google translate to decipher the Italian names of the flavours, we were still unable to make sense of what went into the flavours.
This led to us having no real choice but to opt for the flavours that sounded the most familiar to us in Italian: Stracciatella, Salted Caramel and Pistachio.
However, seeing how boring our flavour choices were, I decided to “zhuzh” things up a little by swapping out the cup for a brioche bun; something that I’ve seen in other gelato shops but had yet to try.
While the idea was a brilliant one, the choice to have the brioche bun turned out to be a bit of a letdown since it was dry and lacked that soft, fluffy brioche texture. Compared with our rainbow bread in Singapore, this brioche bun was difficult to enjoy in one bite and we ended up having to dissect it; only eating the half of the bun where the gelato sat.
While the bun may not be up to par, the flavours more than made up for it. The Stracciatella had a good ratio of dark chocolate shards and was not as sweet as I had expected while the Pistachio offered a good balance of creaminess with that nutty roasted fragrance of pistachio that rounded the flavour well.
The winner of the three flavours was the Salted Caramel, a flavour that the shop had created in collaboration with renowned German chocolatier, Ritter Sport. In addition to the creamy caramel base, the gelato also featured bits of the salted caramel chocolate which only helped to make the salted caramel taste more pronounced and enjoyable.
Gelateria La Romana is located at Via Cola di Rienzo, 2, 00193 Rome RM, Italy.
L’ARENA DEL GELATO
Google rating: 4.8
Google reviews: 1,060
On our last day in Rome, my companions and I found ourselves back at Vatican City in one of the lanes that was filled with food and gelato shops, each competing for our attention.
Instead for settling for those in the centre of the lane, we decided to walk the entire lane to one of the most popular gelato shops, L’Arena del Gelato, that is located right before the entrance to Lumsa University — Rome’s second oldest university.
At first glance, the shop had a bit of an olde vibe which we really liked and felt made sense because of its traditional flavour offerings, which was popular with the locals and tourists.
Since we were essentially having dessert before dinner, the three of us opted to share a medium cup of gelato of my choice flavours. This time round, I chose to go with Coffee in addition to my usual Stracciatella and Salted Caramel.
I don’t know if it was because the server was not paying attention to us when we ordered or if she was in a hurry to get our order done, we ended up having Dark Chocolate as a flavour instead of Salted Caramel.
Though we were on the verge of having it sent back, we decided to just chalk it up to a happy mistake since Dark Chocolate could end up being a hidden gem.
While I can’t say that Dark Chocolate blew our minds, it was a pleasant change to the other flavours that we tried and was actually pretty tasty when mixed with the Coffee flavour as they complemented each other really well, balancing out the different taste notes in each flavour.
