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One of the best things to do in Florence is walk across the Ponte Vecchio and try a little something at every gelateria along the way--I like melon and berry flavors, coffee flavors, tiramisu & straciatella. And nut flavors. And gelato in general.

pistachio!

in italy, me and my sister allotted ourselves, per day, two gelatos, one tira misu, and unlimited espressos, mussels, and margherita pizza. so, basically, that's all we ate! :)

i went to Ottos the other day, the actually financially do-able Mario Batali resturant on 8th st and 5th ave. i, of course, had the margherita pizza, a little fromage sampling, and THEN...

for dessert!

HOLY CRIPES!

we tried, since we never had, the Olive Oil gelato. SOOOO DELISH!

and then we had the Pistachio::::: OMG! it was NUTTY, not the neon green pistachio ice cream i'm so fond of...

but the BEST was the Ricotta gelato. so soft, creamy, sweet, like a mild vanilla but with a buttery yumminess to it that nothing can compare to.

I highly recommend Ottos, by the way....and, it goes without saying, I recommend their hotdamn gelato too! :)

BTW, his cookbook is excellent. I've been using it all summer and the recipes are flawless. Pepper ice cream was so wonderful and fun.

kdkaboom,

That post (and story) totally cracked me up! I spent a year in Florence when I was in college and never tired of trying new gelato flavors. Your experience with your sister sounds very familiar!! :)

In Rome we compensated for all the gelato with walking 8 hours a day, so really, it cancelled each other out! My most fave was Fererro Rocher - Hazelnut and Chocolate. Oh man...

In Bologna my favourite was melon followed by any other fruit, lemon is delicious too.

Its all about pistachio or almond. Or chocolate. Or berry. Or hazelnut.

Gelato is frozen at a slightly *lower* temp which accounts for the texture and lets the flavor come out even more... anyway I love nocciola and gianduja.