my sugar - florence, italy

Rating:  10 / 10

I'm not known for liking ice cream, or gelato for that matter, but having read rave reviews about this tiny award winning place near the Duomo, I had to give it a go. After my second visit, and having tried 6 different flavours, I can lift my hands and proclaim triumphantly:

​This is the best damn gelato I have ever tasted.

They do everything right. The gelato is not in huge containers piled high with bright shiny colours to lure in the tourists. The trays have the ribboned fold, the spoons are sturdy to tackle the tighter consistency, and the colours are more muted which speak of a lack of food colouring and sticking to natural flavours.

If you happen to be walking past the Duomo on a sunny day, this is a 2 minute detour and well worth the extra mileage. As far as the tastes go, the pistacchio is the most amazing ice-cream I've ever had. The dark chocolate is rich but not too sickly, the limone is tart with an underlying but not overpowering sweetness, the black sesame was a revelation that took a couple of tries to adjust your palate too but after that you were helpless against it's allure. Finally the two fruitier versions, the strawberry and the mixed berry were both excellent and not too sweet. It's all about the texture and this gelato has that rich, velvety mouth-feel without huge ice-crystals or heaps of sugar.

The lady who serves them is kind and quietly confident in her product, and she should be. This is honestly world class and every visitor to Florence should consider a pilgrimage to this church of flavours.

These recommendations are just personal opinions based on my palate, things change, chefs get fired or replaced, places open-close, relocate, so take it all with a pinch of MSG  and discover your own gems too. But please do try a few of these, they have been researched exhaustively.