Where to find the best gelato in the Philly area

Getting your hands a little sticky when enjoying swirls of your favorite ice cream is a price worth paying. In Philadelphia, there’s no shortage of spots to get messy with soft-serve, ice cream, kulfi, and water ice. But as we embrace a summer of cold, sweet treats, we can’t forget ice cream’s Italian cousin, gelato.

While gelato might look similar to ice cream, you’ll find it’s pretty different when you bite into it. That’s because gelato is denser, creamier, and often more flavorful.

“Gelato has less than half the air of ice cream‚” said Stefano Biasini, the 2014 winner of the Gelato World Cup and chef-partner at Center City’s Gran Caffe L’Aquila restaurant. “Effectively this means that there is much more of the base ingredient such as pistachio or chocolate in a pint of artisanal gelato.”

Unlike ice cream, gelato leans heavy on the milk, is kept at a higher temperature and churned at a slower speed, creating a product that can feel heavier but lighter in the sense of fat, explained Glenn D’Ascenzo, co-owner of D’Ascenzo’s Gelato shop in West Chester.

Ice cream freezes at below zero, which can numb your tastebuds, D’Ascenzo added. Gelato’s higher temps allow flavoring agents like pistachio and hazelnut to shine, lending for a more flavorful dessert.

Philly-area chefs create gelato using traditional methods developed from family recipes, years of experience and technical training, and featuring ingredients from Pennsylvania and Italy. While some stick to classic flavors, others get inventive.

Here are a handful of shops whipping up sweet, savory gelato and sorbettos — gelato’s non-dairy sibling.

At Michele Varallo’s bakery in East Passyunk, Italian sweets are a family affair, including handmade gelato.

Since the spring of 1986, Varallo’s been serving cups of pistachio and nocciòla (hazelnut) in Philly. His gelato-making days began in Italy in the late 1960s, bringing those skills along when he emigrated to the U.S. With Varallo semi-retired, his sons, Bernie and Michele, continue the tradition of boiling milk with sugar and flavor agents imported from Italy, then slowly churning it to create a creamy, cold dessert at the bakery.

Among the traditional Italian flavors, Varallo’s experiments like peanut butter and jelly, are also found in the icebox holding 14 flavors. Scoops in a cup or cone range in size, with small ones at $2.95 and larger servings up to $7.95.

📍 1639 S. 10th St., 📞 215-952-0367, 🌐 varallobrothersbakery.com/store, 🕒 Monday to Sunday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

French entrepreneur Rene Kobeitri’s gelato is inspired by family recipes and late-night epiphanies

“It’s all his crazy brain — it’s all him,” said Chara “Belle” Rowland, his wife.

At his three shops in South Philly and Old City, Rim Cafe, Philly Cannoli King, and Constitution Cannoli King, gelato is a favorite for guests. Flavors include cannoli cream, peanut butter swirl made with fresh roasted peanuts, pistachio, and other flavors served in cups and cones for $7 a scoop (additional scoops $5). Lemon is a favorite sorbet for those looking for a non-dairy option.

📍 1172 S 9th St., 📞 215-465-3515, 🌐 facebook.com/rimcafephilly, 🕒 Thursday and Sunday noon to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m.

Chef Stefano Biasini takes the dessert to a whole other level in the kitchen of Gran Caffe L’Aquila. Biasini combines owner Riccardo Longo’s family carbonara with his own savory gelato.

“Eat it in the way you would an apple pie a la mode — take the hot and cold and you mix those sensations together in your mouth — it’s just an explosion,” Longo said.

If savory gelato is not your vibe, choose from traditional flavors served in cups and cones (imported from Italy) for $6 to $9.20. Biasini marries dairy from Pennsylvania farms with Italian ingredients like Amaretto cherries from Emilia-Romagna and chocolate mixed in Turin in Italy for 24 gelato options perfect for an afternoon snack or after-dinner treat.

📍 1716 Chestnut St., 📞 215-568-5600, 🌐 grancaffelaquila.com, 🕒 Monday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Galen Thomas learned the ins and outs of making gelato at Gelato University in Chicago, a school run by gelato machine company Carpigiani North America. The precision of traditional Italian technique is evident, but his flavors diverge from the norm as he incorporates family ingredients. At Cloud Cups in Fishtown, you’ll find popular flavors like his mom’s caramel and his aunt’s banana pudding. Thomas also works with local businesses like French Toast Bites for his French toast stracciatella gelato in a cup or cone ($5 to $8) and Lochel’s Bakery in Hatboro, which supplies the doughnut-like pastry for the Cloudnini gelato sandwich ($8).

📍 2311 Frankford Ave., 📞 215-714-2230, 🌐 cloudcupscompany.com, 🕒 Thursday to Sunday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

When Glenn and Kristin D’Ascenzo met in 1999 working as flight attendants, they didn’t know a trip to Rome the following year would lead to a gelato shop in West Chester. Almost 20 years later, the couple spends their days at their brick shop on East Gay Street scraping creamy caramel sea salt and butter cookie gelato made with West Chester’s Baily’s Dairy into cups and cones for the township. Their Italian machine slowly churns the pasteurized milk with fresh, local ingredients like basil from their garden for their lemon basil sorbetto. The D’Ascenzos have 24 flavors to try for $5 to $6 in a cup or hand-rolled waffle cones — if you want to try more than one, there’s no charge for double or tripling up on flavors — if it can fit.

📍 132 East Gay St., West Chester, 📞 610-453-1958, 🌐 dascenzosgelato.com, 🕒 Monday to Thursday noon to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 11 p.m., Sunday noon to 9 p.m.

About 15 years ago, owner Anthony Anastasio switched from outsourced gelato to housemade inside the Italian Market shop. Manager Marissa Leone helps whip up a base of heavy cream, milk, sugar and flavors, including pistachio, chocolate, vanilla, and espresso. There’s also a limoncello sorbetto for non-dairy guests. Order the gelato in a cup ($5 to $7), cone ($5 to $6), sandwiched between two vanilla pizzelles or Italian cookies ($6), or with espresso poured on top for a caffe affogato ($6.50 to $7.50).

📍 903 S. 9th St., 📞 800-833-5030, 🌐 italiancoffeehouse.com, 🕒 Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At Alice (pronounced “ah-LEE-cheh”), servers scrape your choice of Gran Caffe creamy gelato into cups.

“We chose to use Gran Caffe L’Aquila gelato to complete our taste transporting experience back to Italy,” said Gigio Longo, co-owner of the restaurant and brother of Riccardo at Gran Caffe. “They use high-quality imported Italian ingredients, which produce premium delicious gelato that compliments our Roman-style pizza al taglio.”

Choose one, two or three scoops of cioccolato menta or chocolate mint, desire made with Amarenacherries imported from Rome, limone or lemon sorbet, and more. Expect to pay $5.50 to $9. The restaurant stays open an extra 15 minutes in the summer for those seeking the sweet treat.

📍 235 S.15th St., 📞 215-545-2020, 🌐 alicephilly.com, 🕒 Monday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Across the bridge, John Caiolaand Miguel Paletta have been serving imported gelato since 2016. A factory in Italy is where the gelato is made, frozen, and shipped over to the Haddonfield shop. “Everything revolves around Italy” for Caiola, and including the gelato flavors at Gelato Dolceria. Stracciatella (sweet cream), strawberries and cream, pistachio and more are on the menu, along with a cioccolata fondente (dark chocolate) and mint chocolate chip sorbetto for vegan guests. About $8 should cover any order.

📍 147 Kings Hwy East, Haddonfield, 📞 856-429-8100, 🌐 gelatodolceria.com, 🕒 Monday to Thursday, Sunday 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. (These are seasonal hours.)

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of a gelato shop. We regret the error.