Mission Gelato--Best Gelato in Italy?

Getting daily dosage of gelato is a must when traveling in Italy. Determined to savor the best of the Italian gelato in cities we were visiting, I did an obsessively amount of gelato research before our recent trip.

Armed with my own gelato map that I made in Photoshop, we meandered through the maze-liked streets with high hope. I have to confess that a few gelaterias on my map came highly recommended by an article from well-established newspaper, who shall remain nameless here. Perhaps our anticipation was heightened by the warm weather and the hardship of locating the gelateria, our taste buds became more discriminating and demanding, and we left those gelaterias unsatisfied. After consecutive disappointments, we decided to toss the map and rely on our intuition.

To make our mission more successful, we made some mental notes of "what not to do". We decided to skip the gelateria displaying large mount of ice cream in the style similar to what you see in Coldstone. This turned out to be a good strategy because we later learned that many of those places carried mass-produced gelato from large ice cream manufacturers. Dodging tourist trap is another key--we avoided the tempatation of trying gelato in major tourists areas, or places with prominant signs in English. How did we know that those places were no go? Dehydrated, sweaty, and out of desperation, we had gelato at a few major city squares, and we were sorry that we even went there.

After many trials and errors and tasting of some bad, mediocre, good, and exceptional, the one gelateria that tops our list is Gelato Zeno e Cioccolato in Verona. Not only does Roberto Bonato, its owner and creator, insist on using only fresh seasonal ingredients, he went one step further to use only locally produced ingredients--"low carb" as it's called, meaning low carbon emission. Here's a short video clip from CBS on Gelato Zeno e Cioccolato.

What are the flavors to try? Let Roberto be your guide. Because the flavors change with seasons and the availability of local ingredients, be adventurous and your taste buds will thank you.

Possible the best gelato in Italy, certainly the best of the ones we tried during our trip, it is probably one of the greenest ice creams out there.

Gelato Zeno e Cioccolato
Piazza San Zeno 12a, Verona


Couple more bonuses... Gelato Zeno e Cioccolato is located in Piazza Zeno, where St. Zeno Basilica is located. We were there on the third Saturday of May, and were happy to find a local flea market bustling with actions.

7 Million Bulbs at the Keukenhof Garden, the Netherlands

We'd been waiting to visit the Keukenhof Garden for months! Famed for its blooming bulbs and accessible for two months each year, it is the largest garden in the world.

It was a gloomy late March day. We had the first-hand experience of the "Dutch gray sky" so famously depicted in early Dutch paintings. It started to drizzle as we arrived. My spirit was dampened when I found that few tulips were in bloom. There were plenty of crocuses and daffodils--the earliest bloomers. Nonetheless, most bulbs had germinated, helping to foretell the amazing patterns that they would compose on the lawn.

As the temperature dropped in the afternoon, it started to snow. A veteran horticulturist told us that it's a rare sight to see emerging tulips in snow, and it had never snowed in March. Counted as a mixed blessing, we continued meandering through the garden. At last, I got to see oceans of tulips in a greenhouse showcasing the varieties used in the garden--they were amazing and some were larger than life. Few are bigger than the span of a pair of sunglasses! Unbelievable! In addition to the bulbs, Keukenhof is known for its sculptures. A pair of oversize bulbs is my favorite. Upon seeing the photo, a dear friend mistakenly identified them as a pair of ducks' rears (presumably with the ducks' heads submerged in water). Well, there is some resemblance.

Naturally, we took a lot of photos. The trade off of stumbling upon a gloomy day was that visitor traffic was light. The Keukenhof Garden is not to be missed for those who plan to visit the Netherlands in the springs. We'd love to go back, not in March, but in April to catch more tulips.