Gelato in Italy

Guess who's back? Back again. Ang's back, tell a friend! [Sung to the tune of Slim Shady.]

Bryce and I have recently returned from our magnificent 17-day honeymoon to Italy and Ireland. Unsure of where to begin with regard to all of the delicious food we ate in Italy, I suppose our ritualistic gelato tasting habit is a fitting starting point. Our first day is a great example of any typical day in Italy.

First - visit a historic site. In the case of day 1, it's the Spanish Steps. 

Saying things like 'this place wasn't built in a day' and 'when in Rome' are encouraged, although not necessary!

Second - take a selfie and/or survey all passers-by until one is seen confidently operating a camera and ask them to take a photo for you. The Spanish Steps, like many other landmarks, are under construction as you can see.

Third - feel a great sense of accomplishment for being a savvy world traveler and reward yourself with gelato!

I hear you over there, asking what the difference is between gelato and ice cream. Gelato includes less air and is more dense. On a hot day in Italy it's 5000% better than its American counterpart, too!

This gelateria is about 6 paces from the base of the Spanish Steps, we weren't wasting any time!

Do you see that biscotto (cookies) flavor there? It was the very best and tastiest gelato of my entire trip!

It paired well with pistacchio (pistachio) before meeting its demise! Bryce always, 100% of the time, goes with chocolate of some sort.

That evening we got gelato, again! Bryce chose bacio (chocolate hazelnut) for us to share after a very large dinner. When in Rome, right?!

Did you catch that cycle? Visit, gelato, and/or dinner, gelato. Lather, rinse, repeat!

Visit the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.

Get gelato. Mine was stracciatella (most similar to chocolate chip, but the chocolate is laced into the gelato while it's being made) and came with a little cookie roll.

Bryce had a triple chocolate this time and even got a little baby cone on top!

On our very last night in Rome we visited the Holy Stairs, which nobody seems to know about. There are only a handful of them in the world, one of which is in Pittsburgh! Of course, gelato was in order following that visit and our last dinner in Italy.

Io mangio gelato! (I eat gelato!)

It's safe to say that gelato was our shared favorite food in Italy. Being that it was August, the weather was very hot so gelato wasn't the only cool treat we enjoyed. 

An overly fancy ice cream parlor caught our eye, it was the Magnum Pleasure Store. Not what it sounds like, right?! There you select three of the many upscale and beautiful toppings to adorn your ice cream bar.

Then you pose with it in their fancy photo area! So fun.

Say formaggio (cheese)!

Our toppings were pistachios, candied orange, and white chocolate balls. It was as tasty as it was pretty! It's not often that I'm one of many taking photos of my food, although Magnum was the place to photograph your ice cream quickly before eating it.

Finally, I enjoyed a true Italian ice while on our tour of Sorrento. I'm not sure what this was called by the seller, although I do know that the man dug the lemony ice from a large, frozen container inside of a cart at the top of a beautiful lookout! It was chilly, filled with fresh lemon flavor, and so refreshing.

There we have it, the first of our Italian food adventures! You deserve a gelato if you've read all the way to the bottom of this post. Mangia mangia!