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Italian Gelato: cool off in style this summer

It doesn’t need to be summer for the Italians to eat ice cream – indeed, for many it is a daily ritual year-round – but sales of this most iconic of Italian treats, the gelato, go through the roof when the heat rises. Wherever you are in Italy, there will be a queue at your local gelateria, or ice cream shop, and quite rightly so.

Gelato in Italy isn’t ice cream as we know it. In many countries ice cream is made with cream; in Italy, the secret is to make it with milk. It is this that makes their gelato so smooth and creamy, so irresistibly full of flavour. Chocolate gelato is rich and silky; fruity gelato bursts with flavour. If you have anything of a love affair with Italian food, as I do, get yourself to an ice cream shop (gelateria) and indulge in this unmissable and delightful experience.

How to order your gelato in Italy

So it is that ordering gelato from your gelateria is something of an art. You need to know what the different flavours are, do you want a cone or a cup, how many scoops…yes, you can get a long way by pointing, but it pays to learn a few words when it comes to ordering gelato Italian-style. It’s also handy to know that, as in many Italian establishments, you often need to pay and get a receipt before you actually order your gelato; you then show your receipt to the gelato server and say which flavours you want.

Sound like you know what you’re talking about and that first taste of cool gelato on the tongue will be even more satisfying…nothing more to say than buon appetito!

Ice cream vocabulary – the basics:

Una coppa cup
Un cono cone
Un gusti flavour / scoop
Un cono con due gusti, per favore a cone with two scoops, please
Un attimo, per favore one moment, please
Non sono pronto/a I’m not ready
Prego / dime yes please / tell me (from the gelato server)

Popular gelato flavours:

Cioccolato al latte milk chocolate
Cioccolato fondente dark chocolate
Bacio chocolate hazelnut (after the famous Bacio chocolates from Perugia)
Gianduja milk chocolate & hazelnut (like Nutella)
Cioccolato all’arancia dark chocolate and orange
Pistacchio pistachio (NB. ‘chio’ is pronounced with a hard ‘k’)
Mandorla almond
Nocciola hazelnut
Fior di latte literally ‘flower of milk’; tastes like sweet cream
Stracciatella chocolate chip (with fior di latte base)
Cocco coconut
Caffè coffee
Malaga rum & raisin
Zuppa inglese literally ‘English soup’; like trifle, with a custardy base, bits of cookie & sweet wine or Marsala

Popular sorbetto flavours (delicious and very real fruit flavours that usually don’t contain milk):

Cioccolato al latte milk chocolate
Limone lemon
Melone melon
Fragola strawberry
Lampone raspberry
Pera pear
Pesca peach
Frutti di bosco fruits of the forest
Mela apple
Albicocca apricot

Get a head start by brushing up on your Italian before you go! Cactus runs 10-week evening Italian courses in the UK.

Or book a language course in Italy and immerse yourself in the language and culture – just think, gelato every day! Cactus runs Italian courses in over 20 locations across Italy, from the classical hubs of Rome and Florence to the coastal delights of Taormina and Sorrento.

Top 5 Spring festivals in Italy

Easter Week, Rome & Florence: 29th March-1st April

If you can be in Italy during Easter Week you will be treated to splendid traditions, poignant rituals and abundant food as Lent reaches its end. While Easter Mass is held across the country in every church, it’s the one led by the Pope at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome that tops the agenda. He also blesses the Via Crucis on Good Friday, where a huge cross is lit with burning torches near the Colosseum. Alternatively, head for Florence where the Scoppio del Carro, or explosion of the cart, provides a spectacular display of fireworks and parades in medieval costume on Easter morning. Wherever you are, Easter Monday, or La Pasquetta, is a day of festivity, fun and social gatherings – to say nothing of fine food and wine, which goes without saying.

Italian courses in Rome

Festa di San Marco, Venice: 11th-12th May

All you romantics out there, head for Venice on 25th April. As well as being Liberation Day in Italy, celebrating the anniversary of Italy’s liberation by the Allies in WWII, it is also the feast day of Venice’s patron saint, San Marco. And it is during this Festa de San Marco that Venetian men traditionally present the woman they love with a red rosebud, or bocolo. Enjoy the parades in St Mark’s Square and woo your beloved in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities – guys, this one will win you brownie points with your loved one.

Italian courses in Venice

Sagra del Pesce, Camogli: 12th May

It would be impossible to talk of festivals in Italy without bringing up food at some point. The Sagra del Pesce (Fish Feast) Festival in Camogli, just south of Genoa, is a must for anyone who likes fish as, every year on the second Sunday of May, this small and pretty fishing village perched on the Italian Riviera hosts a massive, jovial and free feast of freshly caught fish. And it really does have to be seen to be believed. For the entire day, fishermen swap their nets for aprons and devote the day to frying their produce in a giant saucepan that’s 5 metres wide (that’s over 16 feet) with a 7 metre handle – possibly even more impressive than the fish that comes out of it. Whatever the case, it’s fish for everyone – it’s delicious, and it’s free!

Italian courses in Genoa

Infiorata di Noto, Sicily: 12th May-20th June

Spring is a time for flowers, and there’s nowhere better to get your fill of colour and scent than in the picturesque Baroque town of Noto in southeast Sicily. On the third weekend in May the pavements of Noto are covered with intricate ‘carpets’ of flower petals that form stunning mosaic patterns and pictures. Local artists go to town with their designs which are all made out the most natural materials possible – in addition to flower petals, they use earth, wood cuttings, seeds and more. The artists begin their creations on Friday, for all to enjoy over the weekend, and then on Monday children are let loose with delight to run through the flowers and destroy the designs. But, at least for one weekend, locals and visitors to Noto look down rather than up, as usually it is the beautiful balconies overhead that catch the eye, not the pavement underfoot.

Italian courses in Taormina

Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto: 28th June-14th July

The pretty hill town of Spoleto in southern Umbria plays host to the Festival dei Due Mondi, one of Italy’s most famous performing arts festivals. So-called as its founder, composer Gian Carlo Menotti, hoped to bring together the old and new worlds of Europe and America, it is a packed programme of music, opera, theatre, art and sculpture, and each year draws in first-class artists from around the world. As can be expected, Spoleto gets very busy during the festival, but Orvieto is about 90 minutes away and makes a perfect place to escape the crowds whilst still staying within easy distance of the festivities.

Italian courses in Orvieto