No ice cream lover’s visit to Italy is complete without sampling the local gelato and opinions abound on where to find the best. There’s a wonderful shop in the hill town of San Gimignano that has won awards for its artisanal gelato, Gelateria Dondoli, and our stop here was a highlight of my afternoon in Tuscany.
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| Gelateria Dondoli, San Gimignano |
Sergio Dondoli explained the process for
making his gelato – never more than 24 hours old – and then I ordered three of his unique creations. It was a difficult decision. I love chocolate. And lemon. But this was an opportunity to
try something really special so I chose two varieties made with fresh local
ingredients: Venere Nera (blackberries and lavender) and Crema di Santa Fina (saffron with pine
nuts). My third choice was Champelmo (pink grapefruit and sparkling wine). And each flavour
was sublime.
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| Champelmo, Venere Nera and Crema di Santa Fina |
It’s no wonder celebrities like Andrea
Bocelli, Tony Blair and Franco Zeffirelli have made the trek to this little
gelateria in San Gimignano. Dondoli even developed a new recipe for Michelle
Obama in anticipation of a visit from the American President. (Michelle is
flavoured with saffron, honey, orange and almond.) As we continued our tour
through Italy I ate gelato on many more occasions but I must agree that Sergio
Dondoli’s gelato really is the best.
Yum. Gelato is the best. Perfect G.
ReplyDeleteYum is right!
DeleteI'm not a huge fan of ice cream, but I would love to try Gelato.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a big ice cream fan either but I certainly enjoyed the gelato. And when in Rome...
DeleteWhat a 'G'orgeous Gelato photo! I remember having profiterole flavour yummy! Your post paints mouthwatering images... best I go experiment with dairy free gelato! :) Life Diet Health (A-Z Challenge 625 atow)
ReplyDeleteThank you! And all the colours come from the fruit and natural ingredients, no artificial colours or preservatives added.
DeleteHow lovely! Up until a few years ago, all we had here in Curaçao was Baskin Robbins and Häagen Dazs. Then an Italian family opened a gelateria, and nothing was ever the same again :) They're probably not even close to Signore Dondoli's, but they're a far cry from Baskin Robbins, haha. It's the highlight of a day after the beach.
ReplyDeleteGuilie @ Quiet Laughter
I must confess I love Haagen Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip. But a day at the beach followed by gelato sounds even better.
ReplyDeleteOh, those look amazing! I love gelato! It's just so expensive it's a once a year treat for me.
ReplyDelete(Blogspot won't let me comment with my Wordpress ID. My A - Z challenge blog can be found here: http://out0fprint.wordpress.com )
But I'll bet that if you had gelato every day you wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much.
DeleteI love gelato. On a trip to Vienna there was a gelato store next door to the hotel. Guess what treat I had every day. Yum.
ReplyDeleteHow convenient. That's a great opportunity to try lots of different flavours.
DeleteI just got back from Italy yesterday, and gelato is just wonderful. I'll have to put this place on my list for our next trip there!
ReplyDeleteAnd the town of San Gimignano is very charming too - even more reason to visit.
DeleteOoh, those flavors do sound delicious. I usually always go for chocolate, but yours sounds like a tempting combo. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't regret my choices!
DeleteI'm not keen on ice cream, but I think I could be tempted!
ReplyDeleteI think you could too!
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