Gelato!

Italy's best sweet treat

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When I was in Italy a few months back, almost every dinner ended with the offer of a gluten-free tiramisu. Plenty of celiacs would jump at the chance, I know, but I’ve never liked tiramisu, not even before my celiac diagnosis. For dessert, I quickly discovered that my best bet was gelato.

Gelato is famously associated with Rome — think of Audrey Hepburn enjoying a cone on the Spanish Steps in Roman Holiday — but the truth is that it’s popular all over Italy. Gelato dates back to the Renaissance, invented in a Medici court in Florence. In the 1560s, a chef named Bernardo Buontalenti created a frozen dessert for a Medici banquet hosted in honour of the King of Spain. Buontalenti used milk, eggs, sugar, citrus, and ice, creating a rich, smooth treat that people quickly became obsessed with.

That includes me… and Rick Steves! His guide to Rome famously includes a daily budget for gelato. (Smart man.) But while gelato is usually gluten-free, celiacs need to watch for cross-contamination from cones made from wheat. Unless you’re eating in a dedicated gluten-free gelateria (a couple are listed below), the safe bet is to tell staff that you have celiac disease and need your gelato scooped out of a fresh tub.

Here are some spots I highly recommend, and one that gets a caveat. Note that both chains have outposts outside of Italy as well.

Grom

Grom is one of Italy’s best‑known gelato chains. Everything at the counter — from the creamy ices to the cones and toppings — is entirely gluten-free! (Note that the boxed treats you can buy there are not necessarily gluten free, but they are prepared elsewhere.) Grom was founded in Turin in 2003, but it now has outposts across Italy as well as abroad (a list that includes London, Paris, and New York). The brand emphasizes high‑quality, seasonal ingredients, and generally sources milk and fruit from partner farms. The result is a rotating offering of flavors that match harvests rather than mass‑production calendars. Grom also has options for those avoiding dairy.

Tre Scalini

This historic gelateria in Rome’s Piazza Navona has been in business since 1946, and it’s so famous that Rick Steves included it in a tour. Tre Scalini’s gelato flavors are gluten-free and there are GF cones available. However, this is an extremely busy, touristy spot, and it was the only gelateria on my trip that wouldn’t get my gelato from a fresh tub at the back. (To be fair, that is a tough request for a place with a line out the door.) I ended up only trying one flavor — mora, or blackberry — even though you get two scoops, but that was the only fresh tub that had just been brought out.

Fatamorgana

Fatamorgana is another dedicated gluten-free chain that I got to know well, because one of its locations is in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood, where I was staying. The range of flavors here is absolutely wild, and I tried several, including Dracarys (yes, Game of Thrones fans, this one’s for you, and it’s a mix of dragonfruit with peppercorns and strawberry), avocado (made with lime and white wine), Madagascar chocolate (just one of their many chocolates), and lemon (I do love a citrus-flavored gelato). Fatamorgana is also allergy-aware and lists whether a flavor contains milk, egg, or nuts. Highly recommended — and there are two outposts in California.

Gelateria Nico

Venice is known for cooler weather than Rome, but who says it has to be hot out to enjoy gelato? Gelateria Nico is not a dedicated gluten-free spot, but the staff is extremely helpful and will get celiacs their gelato from fresh tubs at the back. Most of the flavors are traditional favorites, made in small batches. This was actually where I discovered my favorite gelato flavor of the entire trip: pompelmo rosa, which is simply pink grapefruit. It was absolute heaven! Perhaps not least because Gelateria Nico sits on the Fondamenta Zattere ai Gesuati promenade, offering a beautiful view of the Giudecca Canal. It’s another historic spot — in business for more than 80 years — and it’s apparently mentioned in a few novels.