Where to find the best gelato in Florence, Italy! By: Lauryn Blake
Hi, my name is Lauryn Blake, and I’m a junior studying Marketing with a minor in Environmental Studies. I studied abroad in the beautiful city of Florence, Italy, in the fall semester of 2023. It was an amazing experience for me, and one of my favorite things to do with my friends in Florence was to go out and get gelato! We often went during the warmer days, but there was sometimes a craving for it in forty-degree weather.
Gelato is very similar to ice cream, but it has a smoother and creamier texture. The best way I learned is how to find the best gelato based on this one tip: You’ll find many gelato shops around every corner of Florence. They will be showcased on display as mountains of gelato. However, there is better quality gelato available. Shops will fill these mountains of gelato with air as a way to attract tourists. This depletes the quality of the texture in the gelato. The gelato shops that have the best quality will be ones where you cannot see the gelato in the windows. Metal tins will likely cover the gelato or the tins are only filled flat across the top.
The first and my favorite gelato shop in the city is called La Strega Nocciola Gelateria. This is located in the heart of Florence on Via Ricsoli. It is a tiny place, usually with one worker scooping the gelato. The hazelnut flavor is the known favorite at this shop, but my favorite is stracciatella. Stracciatella is a milk-based flavor with chocolate chips. It is a famous flavor across Italy. Other flavors at La Strega include Nutella, cheesecake, and cinnamon.
The next shop is a favorite of most of my friends and classmates while abroad. It is called Gelateria La Carraia. It is a family-owned gelato shop with two locations in the city center. One is on Piazza Nazario Sauro, which is right on the canal, and the other is in the Santa Croce area on Via dei Benci. This gelato shop is known for its variety of flavors. From fruity to chocolatey, La Carraia offers over 30 flavors. My two favorites were Mint Chocolate and Tiramisu.
The last gelato shop is called Grom. This is considered more of a popular chain gelato shop. They have shops across Italy and a few in Paris, London, Lisbon, and Prague. Grom is an easy walk as it’s right in the city center. They have plenty of fruit flavors and a few staples of chocolate, hazelnut, and stracciatella.
The best part about gelato shops is they always encourage you to choose two flavors. You can mix chocolate with a fruit flavor or cinnamon with coffee. I hope this article helps anyone abroad in Florence currently or anyone planning to travel to Florence!