We have seen rocket, parmesan, coconut and almonds, blitzed and whipped into impossible forms. We have seen artisanal sorbets melt under the sun, leaving tears of mango down the sides of our hands. We have seen granitas topped with fragrant basil; semifreddos drowned in clouds of cream; rice cakes stuffed with espresso-flecked gelato. We have had brain freezes and sugar highs; aching teeth and sickly dreams. 

It is said that Marco Polo introduced ice cream to Venice from China, where iced puddings had been a culinary staple since 3000 BC. (The secret, the Chinese worked out, was adding rock salt to the ice.) In the following centuries, the Italians started adding dairy to the flavoured ice, creating what became known as gelato. The compositional difference between ice cream and gelato is small but Venetians insist on its importance – many gelaterias emblazon their techniques on the wall. 

Gelato is made with milk, instead of cream, giving it a low fat-content. Coupled with a whipping technique that introduces less air to the mixture, it has a higher density and, therefore, more intense flavours. As we discovered, the panoply of flavours is what Venice does best. “There is no vegetable that can’t be turned into an ice cream worth of its name,” wrote an Italian chef in 1778. 

As you’d expect from an island that has a higher number of tourists than residents during summer, there are a lot of bad ice cream shops flogging off sweet stodge to tourists. So we asked the bar staff at our hostel in Venice for recommendations and did a bit of research to map the best artisanal gelaterias, giving ourselves a day to try them all. We used a mixture of vaporetto boats (€7.50 for a single journey) and a lot of walking to get around. So here it is: Parallel’s Ice Cream Guide to Venice. The things we do for you…
 

GELATERIA ALASKA

Calle Larga dei Bari, 1159, 30135 Venice

Whenever you ask a local or consult a travel guide about Venice’s best gelaterias, you’re guaranteed to hear about Alaska. Owned and staffed by the charismatic Carlo Pistacchi (an apposite name for someone in the gelato business), Alaska offers around twenty flavours including cinnamon, ginger (one of the most popular) and Kiwi. It costs €1.50 for a scoop and we went for a medley of rocket, orange and ginger. The texture was perfect and the flavours were intriguing but, the real winner wasn’t the gelato but the peach and strawberry granita – a kind of Italian slush puppy topped with a sprig of basil. 
 

GELATO DI NATURA

Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio, San Croce, 1628, 30135 Venice

Five minutes walk from Alaska we stumbled upon a place that wasn’t on our map. The people at Gelato Di Natura are especially proud of their mantecore: the traditional small-batch freezers with rotating paddles. Founded in 1982, they, like a few other gelaterias we encountered, like to emphasise the lack of hydrogenated fats in their gelato. All the better to erase the guilt when you consume a few of their ‘Michi’, a Japano-Italian hybrid that is basically a rice cake filled with gelato. Slightly more expensive than Alaska but with a slightly creamier finish, it was a great find. We recommend savouring your walnut and fig ice cream in the nearby square of San Giaccomo.
 

GELATERIA CA D’ORO 

Strada Nova, 4273/b, 30121 Venice

After swishing down some water to clean our palettes, we crossed the canal and walked toward Gelatera Ca D’Oro, another mainstay of the artisanal scene. They had 26 flavours on offer from tiramisu to sesame but we decided to pick up a small cone of mango sorbet for €1.80. They claim to use 100% fresh and natural ingredients and the taste of the mango, which wasn’t too sweet, proved it.
 

LA MELA VERDE

Fondamenta de l'Osmarin, 4977A, 30122 Venice

From there we went to La Mele Verde, which occupies a beautiful position on a canal sandwiched in between some touristy restaurants. With certified hazelnuts from Piedmont and pistachios from Sicily, the owners are very proud of the provenance of their ingredients. The benefits of local sourcing aside, this was one of the more gluttonous of our stops. 

The house speciality is conocrepe, which takes one of their many ice cream flavours and adds a crepe and some Nutella. We ended up going for a €7 three-scoop brioche – literally an ice cream sandwich – filled with chocolate, pistachio and vanilla; and a two-scoop cone of nougat and coffee. The brioche was a bit dry and didn’t really add much to the experience but the ice cream itself was one of the smoothest we encountered. We were buzzing. 
 

CAFFÈ FLORIAN

Piazza San Marco, 57, 30124 Venice

Although we concentrated on artisanal and lesser-known gelaterias, we realised we couldn’t go to Venice without having at least one over-priced ice cream in St. Mark’s Square. With its crumbling, fin-de-siècle façade and rude waiters, Caffè Florian fully embraces all the stereotypes you’d expect. Opened in 1720, it’s known for having an orchestra or small band playing in the outdoor seating – a pleasure for which, you’ll discover when you get the receipt, you’ve been charged €6! 

We went for the cheapest ice cream on offer, which was three-scoops in a fancy glass for €14.50. We chose the most Italian flavours on offer: strawberry, amaretto and tiramisu. Although the experience was delightful, if slightly hectic, the ice cream was somewhat…icy. As if it’d been refrozen. 
 

GELATERIA IL DOGE

Dorsoduro, 3058/A, 30123 Venice

We then went on one of our longest walks to Gelateria il Doge, which is located at the bottom of Campo Santa Margherita – a cool square where all the cool Venetians hang out. Although the staff seemed a bit beleaguered by the American tourists – “Can you recommend me a flavour? I don’t care which one,” said one frat boy to a woman who clearly couldn’t speak English – they were more than happy to offer us a sharp and tangy chilli chocolate sorbet, one of the 23 flavours of gelato and ice cream they had. Coming in at €1.50 a cone, we also thought it’d be worth getting a mascarpone y fragolina (basically strawberries and cream) for the road. 
 

GELATERIA NICO

Fondamenta Zattere Al Ponte Lungo, 922, 30123 Venice

We then walked down to the largest canal that divides Dorsodurro from Giudecca, the island where you’ll find Generator Venice.  This is where the mammoth cruise ships enter Venice, and it was in their shadow that we basked in the manic glory of Gelateria Nico.

Full of white uniform-clad waiters marching from the shop to the canal-front seating, it has the performative, hectic nature of St. Mark’s Square but with better quality, and cheaper, ice cream. Out of 28 flavours we chose a simple cone of mint – to soothe the day’s excesses – for €1.80. What you didn’t see if that after the above photo was taken, we accidentally dropped it in the canal. Oh well.

So there it is, all the information you need to make your weekend away in Venice as sweet as possible. [Shaking hands stereotypically] When’sa your gelato day?

Photography: Lili Owen Rowlands