The Best Gelato in Rome

Looking for the best gelato in Rome? We’re sharing 10 delicious options that are worth adding to your Rome itinerary!

Ice cream is one of our favorite things to eat whenever we travel. Whenever we visit a new city, we try to scope out the best local ice cream spots (in addition to taco stands and coffee shops).

We spent two weeks in Italy over the summer and our days looked a lot like this: wake up, drink a macchiato, walk around and sightsee, eat gelato, eat lunch, walk around to make more room in our stomachs, drink another macchiato, check out a museum, eat dinner, eat more gelato. 🙂

Over two weeks we ate at a total of 12 gelaterias throughout Italy. 5 of which were in Rome, and every single one was delicious. We tried to avoid some of the most reviewed spots online. We wanted to experience more local spots whenever we could.

So if you’re headed to Rome soon and struggling to narrow down which gelaterias to check out, here is our list of the best gelato in Rome, based on our taste buds, as well as our gelato research! 

Disclaimer: we are not Rome locals, so these are our opinions as tourists who only had a limited amount of time to explore the city. But despite our lack of local knowledge, we did a TON of research beforehand and read lots of blogs and reviews to find the best spots. There are endless gelaterias in Rome and it’s impossible to list all of the amazing ones. But you can’t go wrong with any of these!

Looking for Florence gelato recommendations? See our suggestion for the best gelato in Florence!

Check out our detailed Italy guides to make planning your Italy trip much easier!

• 4 Days in the Dolomites
• 1 Day in Venice 
• 1 Day in Matera
• 2 Days in Positano
• 3 Days in Rome
• 2 Days in Florence

What’s the difference between gelato and ice cream?

Great question! To be honest, we had no idea before our trip, but after researching, here is what we found out. 

• More milk. First off, gelato and ice cream are both made out of cream and milk, but the proportions differ. Ice cream is made with a higher proportion of cream, while gelato is a higher proportion of milk. 
  
  
• Less fat. Ice cream contains a higher percentage of fat (a minimum of 10%), while gelato is usually around 5-7% fat.
  
  
• No eggs. Ice cream typically contains eggs, while gelato usually does not (this can vary). This is a huge win for Kathryn, as she is highly sensitive to eggs.
  
  
• Slow churned and higher temps. The process to make the two also differs. Gelato is churned at a slower speed than ice cream. Which makes it more dense and has a lower percentage of air. And it is stored at a slightly higher temperature, which makes it even smoother. 

We have a hard time deciding which one we love more. So we guess we’ll just need to eat more of both 😉

How to spot good gelato

While gelato is easy to come by in Italy, not all gelato is created equal. There are sooo many tourist traps around the city that have decent gelato. But definitely not as delicious as other spots in the city. There are a few key things to know and look for when finding high quality gelato. This article is super helpful, but here’s a quick summary below:

• Always get gelato that is in a metal container, not plastic. We didn’t see many plastic to be honest, but we have heard that metal is key. But what’s even better is when they have metal lids covering the gelato, as this means they are controlling the temperature and not trying to lure you in with their gelato’s appearance (which means the flavor speaks for itself!)
  
  
• The best gelato will have natural colors. For example, pistachio should be a more muted greenish brown, not a bright neon green.
  
  
• It is not a good sign if gelaterias have gelato stacked super high. High quality gelato would not be able to stay that high without melting. 
  
  
• Two very classic Italian gelato flavors are pistachio and hazelnut. It’s safe to say all gelato spots will have these, but be careful of places with too crazy of flavors. Creativity isn’t bad at all, and many spots we loved had unique flavors. But if you see a place with bubblegum gelato and other similar types of flavors, it may be a bad sign. 

Our 5 must-visit gelaterias

As we mentioned above, we visited 5 gelaterias during our 3.5 days in Rome and we loved every single one! Below is a list of all of the ones we went to with information about what sights they are near. We include what flavors we loved, and any other important information you need to know! 

1. Gelateria La Romana

Gelateria La Romana was hands down our favorite gelato of our entire trip! Our best friend Liz had told us that she her and her husband loved this spot. They went multiple times, so we knew we had to try it!

When we entered the shop, we were immediately in love with its interior. In Italy, you definitely shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, as some of the best spots aren’t super fancy or trendy inside. But this gelateria immediately won us over with its super cute décor.

The second thing we noticed: they had metal lids! Most of the places we went to in Italy did not have the gelato covered. We had heard that this was a good sign, so we were very excited! 

After much speculation, we chose our flavors and asked for them in a cone. But what happened next took this place from awesome to the next level. They asked us if we wanted chocolate sauce inside our cones! Of course we said yes ;).

We then topped them off with whipped cream (Kathryn’s favorite!), proceeded to drop the whipped cream off the cone (which they kindly replaced), paid (it was only €6 for both of us and we got three scoops, plus the chocolate and whipped cream!), and took our first bite.

And it was love at first bite! The gelato is SO CREAMY! It was the smoothest and creamiest we had the entire trip and practically fell off the cone. The flavors were all so unique, full of delicious chunks of nuts and other ingredients, and oh so delicious. 

The only negative thing we have to say about this spot is that they have a ton of locations. Even some outside of Italy. We try to avoid chains, but we didn’t know this until afterwards. However, despite this, it still gets our #1 vote!

PS: If you go to the bathroom downstairs you can see the kitchen where they make the gelato!

Located near: They have 4 locations in Rome. We went to the one in the Prati neighborhood, pretty close to Vatican City. It makes for a great stop after a long tour :).

Must try flavors: You can’t go wrong with any of them! A few flavors we tried were the Crema dal 1947, Biscotti di Nonna, and Croccante della nonna…amazing! They are super nice about samples here, so make sure to try a few before deciding. 

2. Gelateria del Teatro

Our second favorite gelato in Rome was Gelateria del Teatro. This was the first gelateria we went to in Rome and it set the bar very, very high. Their gelato is 100% natural and only uses seasonal ingredients, except for strawberry gelato, which they keep year round to not disappoint the school children that come in asking for it everyday of the year.

Similar to La Romana, you can watch them make gelato through a glass window. This definitely makes you feel like the place is top notch. They have many flavors to choose from, which makes the choice difficult. And if you’re still hungry after gelato, they had other delicious looking dessert options too. We struggled to compare gelato throughout our trip, but Gelateria del Teatro and La Romana were clear winners for us!

Located near: There are two locations. The one we went to is really close to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. The other is close to the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere.

Must try flavors: The ricotta cheese fig and almond, pistachio, and tiramisu flavors were incredible! They both had pieces of the real thing inside of them, giving it such a delicious texture!

3. Fiordiluna

Fiordiluna came highly recommended to us before our trip and we’re so glad we made a stop here! Located in the trendy area of Trastevere, this gelateria had a big difference from some of the others we went to: they scooped our gelato for our cones instead of using the traditional spade.

While this felt more like an ice cream experience because of this, we really enjoyed the scoops because it was more contained in the cone and less messy to eat. They use the spade for cups, so we are assuming that the logic behind the scoops was that it holds together better.

They have metal lids on their gelato similar to La Romana and they also pride themselves on using natural, seasonal, and minimal ingredients. But even with less ingredients, the gelato is still full of flavor!

Located near: There is only one location, which is in Trastevere, an awesome area with tons of restaurants and bars. 

Must try flavors: We loved the Duetto, which is pistachio and hazelnut (the best of both worlds!), the Fred (cream with biscotti), and one that was caramel and peanuts, which we cannot remember the name of.

4. Neve di Latte

We went to Neve di Latte after waiting in line at the Frigidarium, one of the most reviewed gelaterias in Rome. While Frigidarium has chocolate shells for their gelato, which sounded amazing, we only saw tourists in line (maybe we just caught it at a weird time) and felt the urge to find something more off the beaten path.

We quickly found some blog posts from people who live in Rome and discovered Neve di Latte and we’re so glad we did! It was a bit of a trek from the area we were in near Piazza Navona, but after a filling dinner before, we were thankful to make extra room in our stomachs for it. We tried mostly classic flavors (see our flavor suggestions below) and all of them were super creamy!

And of course, we had to get their tasty homemade whipped cream on top, which was some of the best whipped cream of the trip! This spot and the next spot are so close in terms of flavor that it was hard to decide which was #4 or #5.

Located near: Neve di Latte has two locations, but we went to the one in the Prati neighborhood, which is where La Romana and Gelateria dei Gracchi are. So if you’re looking for a gelato bang bang bang (going to all three back to back), try out all three!

Must try flavors: We loved the salted pistachio (they have a salted and non salted one, but the guy working recommended salted), nocciola (hazelnut), and the stracciatella, all super classic flavors, but done very well! They have many chocolate flavors as well and they let us have samples to try them out, which is a big perk in our book. 

5. Gelateria dei Gracchi

Gelateria dei Gracchi caught our eye because Anthony Bourdain was a big fan of it, so we of course had to try it! We went here the same day as La Romana, so the competition was pretty tough and while we still think La Romana was better, this place was pretty solid! Similar to some of the other spots on the list, they pride themselves on having natural, seasonal, and high quality ingredients. It tasted a bit more natural to us, which makes you feel a little less bad about having three flavors 😉 

Located near: There are three locations of this gelateria, but we went to the one in the Prati neighborhood, which is right by La Romana and very close to Vatican City!

Must try flavors: The lemon cream flavor was sooo tasty! We also really enjoyed the pistachio flavor, as it had nice chunks of pistachio in it.

5 bonus gelaterias

Unfortunately we couldn’t try every gelateria in Rome and missed out on quite a few spots that we really wanted to visit. So here is a list of 5 bonus gelaterias that were highly rated and are worth checking out. These ones will be at the top of our list next time and who knows, maybe some of these will beat out our current favorite spots!

6. Come il Latte

Out of all of the places we didn’t get to try, we are most bummed that we didn’t get to try Come il Latte! We hear that the gelato here is SO creamy and people often compare it to La Romana (according to TripAdvisor reviews, people are split on which is better). And similar to La Romana, they have chocolate sauce.

However, instead of inside of your cone, they drizzle it on top. They also have different flavors of whipped cream! We’re currently trying to book a flight ASAP just so we can try it! (Kidding, but we wish we weren’t!)

Located near: Come il Latte is located less than a 20 minute walk from the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese and the Roma Termini train station.

Must try flavors: We hear that the salted caramel is absolutely incredible!

7. Otaleg

We had originally planned to visit Otaleg, which is gelato spelled backwards, but ended up going to Fiordiluna instead. We won’t know if that was a mistake or not until our next trip back, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re visiting. 

Located near: Otaleg is located in Trastevere, which is a great location and near Fiordiluna, so we suggest trying both 🙂

Must try flavors: People rave about the fruit flavors here!

8. Fatamorgana

We had seen Fatamorgana on many blogs before our trip, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to check it out. We hear that this spot has some interesting flavors along with the classics, but one thing we can really appreciate is that it’s all gluten free and they list what allergens are in the flavors so it’s easy to know what is safe to eat if you have any sensitivities. 

Located near: There are 4 locations of Fatamorgana in Rome, all relatively close to the popular sights, so you’re never far away from one! There is also a location in Los Angeles, so if you’re reading this from California and not going to Italy soon, go try it out! 

Must try flavors: Try something unique here! We hear that their Bacio del principe (Prince’s Kiss) flavor, which is gianduja and hazelnut, and Panacea flavor, which is almond milk, mint, and ginseng, are both amazing!

9. Frigidarium

Although we said above that we skipped Frigidarium because it felt too touristy, after reading local blogs and reviews, we think we may have just caught it at a weird time. From our research, this place is very well loved by locals and tourists and usually has a long line. While we can’t speak about it from personal experience, getting a chocolate shell on your gelato is worth making a stop here!

Located near: Frigidarium is super close to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon! 

Must try flavors: They have a signature Frigidarium flavor, which despite reading tons of reviews saying “you must try this flavor,” there isn’t much information about what is in it. But we think we read it involves cookies, so that sounds pretty tasty to us! No matter what you choose, make sure to get the chocolate shell. 🙂

10. Gelateria I Caruso

Gelateria I Caruso used to be a local’s secret, but has become very popular with tourists. Despite this, it’s known for being extremely high quality gelato, with a changing menu of flavors depending on the month. They have metal lids on the gelato, so you know it’s legit, and you can even watch them make gelato in the shop!

Located near: Gelateria I Caruso is right by Come il Latte, which is located less than a 20 minute walk from the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese and the Roma Termini train station! 

Must try flavors: During our research, many flavors seemed to be loved and there wasn’t one that seemed to stand out the most, but we do hear that getting the zabaione (an egg cream) on top is a must!

Have a favorite gelato spot in Rome that we missed? Let us know in the comments below! We will always be happy to go back and try them for ourselves! 😉

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