Gelato, for Emma

Here is a nice yummy post for all of you, but particularly Emma because she is so keen on Italy in general and gelato specifically. One of the primary pleasures of having the good fortune to live in Italy for a spell is all the gelato. My Man's theory about why Italian food is so good is that they use the whole country for it. For instance, there is literally a couple gelaterias on each block in any downtown center we have been to, and only the Italian appetite for suchgelato could keep all those gelaterias in business, let alone producing freshly made gelato each day. The entire population loving it is part of what keeps the gelato so good. The best place in Pavia is right around the corner from our place and we went nearly every day the first week we were here. I have since tried gelato, or rather several gelatos, in Florence. This includes what is rumored to be their 'best' place as well - Vivo's Gelateria, which was pretty incredible. I also have now found a gelateria a 5-10 minute walk from our place, here in Pavia which has gelato made from organic milk, no artificial colorants, and made fresh daily. Really, it is all pretty yummy. There is definite flavour variation from place to place, but I am yet to have yucky gelato. Below is the organic or 'bio' place's display in Pavia on the left, and the most beautiful display we found in Florence (Firenze), right and bottom:

When you order you ask for a cono (cone) or cupeta (cup) of varying sizes and then get to choose 2 or 3 or sometimes more flavours. There are a huge variety of flavours and some really delicious combinations. My favorite combinations so far are fig (fichi) and pistachio, lemon (limone) and dark chocolate (ciccolato fondante), and pretty much anything with pear (pera), like a milky/caramely one, or milk chocolate or peach (pesca), and the very best (from Vivo's in Florence) pear, ginger, and blueberry all together. I also really enjoyed an orange chocolate flavour just by itself. The girls seem to really like yogurt (yogurta) or what we might call vanilla custard (crema) with strawberry (fragola), or mixed berry (fruitti di bosco), but have tried lots of others too, such as chocolate chip (Straciatella) or caramely crumb something or another (can't remember the name). My man tends to go for limone e cioccolato (lemon and chocolate) every time, in a valiant effort to compare one gelateria to another. Below left is the organic gelateria we frequent here in Pavia (yep that is pretty much the whole shop), left is my cup (cupeta) of fig and pistachio deliciousness, and below is a few flavours in their tubs just waiting for us.

We initially decided to have gelato almost every day as a family to ensure that our initial impressions of Italy had a better chance of being positive ones. Recently however, I have noticed that things are a lot smoother and more fun for the children (and therefore myself) if there isn't quite so many sugar highs and lows for them. I think we will continue to have gelato often, but maybe not every day....perhaps we will limit it to a few times a week instead. How moderate of us, hey? Below is Sparkle enjoying her creamy cherry gelato and Ladybug with her yogurta and panna cotta? Cannot quite remember the name, but it sure was good.

Hungry yet?