Il Gelato di San Crispino
Price guide: Mid-range
Via della Panetteria 42 , Rome, 00187
Loading map...
#5 of 40
expert-rated restaurants in Rome- Recommended for:
- Families with teenagers, No fuss
Expert review of Il Gelato di San Crispino
San Crispino is, quite simply, gelato heaven
I can still remember the revelatory moment when I discovered this gourmet ice-cream emporium back in the 1990s. I’d had some good gelato in Rome, sure – but nothing quite this good. Too much ice-cream tastes of artifical banana, pear or caramel flavouring: the gelato made by the Alonghi brothers, on the other hand, tastes of banana, pear or caramel. It’s not garishly coloured either: if you make gelato with real ingredients, as these two ice-cream evangelists do, it’s never going to come out bright green or yellow. The pistacchio, for example, is more grey than green: but it’s made with carefully-selected pistacchios from Bronte in Sicily, and it tastes like you’re eating them – in cold, creamy form.
Food and drink:
Certain flavours change with the seasons: the mandarin in winter and the autumn dried fig and walnut are especially good. Others are permanent fixtures: these include the unmissable zabaione – made using 20-year-old barrel-aged Marsala. Only tubs are permitted: cones, the Alonghis say, interfere with the purity of the flavour.
Ambience:
It's clean, bright and functional, with a focus on the ice-cream itself – which is hidden from view in cylindrical metal tubs with lids.
Service:
They’re friendly, efficient gelato scoopers in here.
Location:
Via della Panetteria is two blocks east of the Trevi Fountain.
Price advice:
San Crispino’s prices are in the luxe gelato bracket. Whereas prices in most gelaterias start at 1.50 euros for a small cone or tub, here they kick off at 2.30 euros – and this ‘piccola’ size really is small. A 3 euro tub, however, should satisfy most ice-cream cravings.
Other useful branches:
There's another useful centro storico branch at Piazza della Maddalena 3, one block north of the Pantheon; it keeps the same hours.
More information on Il Gelato di San Crispino:
- Price guide:
- Type:
- Ice-cream parlour
- Food:
- Ice cream
- Address:
- Via della Panetteria 42 , Rome, 00187
- Telephone:
- 06 679 3924
- Website:
- http://www.ilgelatodisancrispino.com
- Opening times:
- Sun-Thu noon-12.30am. Fri-Sat noon-1.30am. Closed Tuesdays in autumn and winter.
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Reservations:
- Not necessary
- Free tags / Keywords:
- Quick bites, Takeaway
