Gelato Crawl 2012- Rome, IT

I have a huge apology to make. It has been FAR too long since I last posted. My semester in Rome has just come to an end and I have had both an extreme lack of time and money to eat out. With my school work finished and classes over, I am spending my last few weeks abroad travelling. I have been to Naples (post about possibly the best pizza ever coming soon…), Mommeneheim, Germany, a small village about 30 minutes from Frankfurt, and am now writing to you from Zurich, Switzerland. Next, I'll be exploring the North of Italy with my sister :) 

Before departing from Rome, there were a lot of goodbyes to be made. I had so many places I wanted to see one last time and people I wanted to spend time with. It seemed there was no way I was going to manage it all. But, I had a solution: a gelato crawl. This was an idea I had thought of within my first few weeks of being in Rome since there are about a bazillion gelaterias and everyone I talked to said a different one was the best. I knew I needed to compare these places side by side and the fact that the gelato crawl worked as the perfect way to say goodbye to Rome was the cherry on top (corny, I know, but I couldn’t help myself).  Many of the gelaterias on the list that we would try were located near major attractions in Rome that we all wanted to say goodbye to. Our route ended up making a perfect loop through central Rome allowing us all to see our favorite spots one last time.

To find the places to include in the crawl, I did my research on my trusty food blogs that had been my dining guides throughout my stay in Italy and also factored in input from some locals I knew as well as other students in the Temple program. I decided the gelato crawl would consist of the following places: Fatamorgana, Gelateria dei Gracchi, Café Ciampini, Il Gelato di San Crispino, Giolitti, Della Palma, Gelateria del Teatro, and Old Bridge Gelateria.

I wanted this to be a legit operation, so in addition to having an official route, I also made up score cards for the 5 of us who were going on the crawl to fill out at each stop. On these cards, we rated each gelateria on the variety of flavors offered (number as well as uniqueness), the taste of the gelato, the customer service, the serving size, and the price (was it a good price for the value).  We rated each category on a scale from 1 to 5. The final tallies are listed below.

All in all, the gelato crawl was a huge success, despite the fact that it was raining the whole day and we were all soaked by the 2^nd stop. Della Palma won the best variety of flavors (fitting since its case of gelato stretches through 3 rooms) while Gelateria del Teatro came in a close second due to its uniqueness of natural flavors (my favorite was the flavor garden sage with lavender).

The winner of the taste category was Il Gelato di San Crispino. I was skeptical of this place when we first arrived. The price was steep for only 1 flavor in an extra small cup (€2,30). But when we tasted the gelato, we all thought it was worth every cent. It was the purest tasting gelato ever, gourmet to say the least. The banana flavor was especially fantastic.

The first place gelateria in customer service, serving size, and price/value got perfect scores in all 3 categories, making it the clear winner of the Gelato Crawl 2012: Old Bridge Gelateria. Old Bridge is known by all students in the Temple Rome program. It is located in the Vatican, right next to St. Peter’s Basilica, making it super close to Temple’s residence. And best of all, it is the cheapest quality gelato in the city that gives generous portions. While Old Bridge may serve fewer flavors than Della Palma or Giolitti, it always offers the most important flavors (ricotta pistachio that is to die for) and has specialty flavors on a rotation. What puts Old Bridge over the edge as the best, though, is the incredibly friendly staff.  All 5 of us gelato crawlers agreed that it was our favorite gelateria to go to, well worth the walk in soggy shoes to get.

Gelato Crawl 2012 final tallies:

Gelateria	Fatamorgana	Gelateria dei Gracchi	Café Ciampini	Il Gelato di San Crispino	Giolitti	Della Palma	Gelateria del Teatro	Old Bridge Gelateria
Variety of Flavors	21.5/25	19/25	11/25	19/25	20.5/25	23/25	22/25	19.5/25
Taste	19/25	19.5/25	18/25	21.5/25	18/25	17/25	23/25	20/25
Customer Service	11/25	18.5/25	18.5/25	19.5/25	17/25	17/25	20/25	25/25
Serving Size	11/25	15/25	9.5/25	11/25	16/25	17.5/25	18/25	25/25
Price/Value	14.5/25	12/25	11/25	9/25	15.5/25	17/25	19/25	25/25
Other Comments	Unique flavors; icy	Simple flavors better; nut flavors most popular (esp. pistachio)	Small servings, but quality taste	Small servings but fantastic quality	Crowded but quick service	Huge selection of unique flavors.	Very unique flavors; All natural	Awesome value for good quality and friendly staff.
TOTAL SCORE:  (0-125)	76.5	83.5	67.5	80	87	91.5	102	114.5

Congratulations to Old Bridge Gelateria for being the winner of the Gelato Crawl 2012!