Florence gelato

Vivoli is a good option.

On the Oltrarno side, last fall we discovered La Sorbettiera. They’re at Piazza Torquato Tasso 11/r, across the street from the park. On subsequent days after we found them, several chefs around Florence told us this was also their favorite place. In addition to classic flavors, they come up with new varieties, like lemon-sage.

From Rick’s current Italy book:

• Gelateria Carabè (near Accademia)
• Edoardo (near the Duomo)
• Perchè No! (near Orsanmichele church)
• Gelateria de’ Neri (near Santa Croce church)
• Gelateria la Carraia (Oltrarno)

Enjoy!

How does one determine the best gelato? You would have to try many many places to find that out.
Otherwise you go to someone else’s best gelato and you only have that. Best is a comparison.

I don't recall any particular one that was exceptionally better than others, in Florence.
None with 3 Michelin stars which are apparently the way you judge "the best".
If you happen to go to Siena you might enjoy the gelato at Gelateria "Il Camerlengo.
It is surprisingly good.

Our favorite was Gelateria de' Medici in Piazza Beccaria, a bit farther east than the Mercato di Sant' Ambrogio. Piazza Beccaria is the eastern end of the circular route of the handy little electric buses in Florence.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/what-do-americans-mean-when-they-say-best

Vivoli is my favorite, although it's expensive. When we were there in Fall 2019, I loved that they have an ice cream laboratory at their store.

Edoardos and La Carraia are our favorites and there is always a line. Gelateria dei Neri where you can also get an affogatto.

We are big fans of Perchè No!

Thanks for the suggestion on the Oltrarno side. That’s where we are staying and just had gelato there. Excellent

Thanks for all the ideas.
We’ve got it from here

P.S. We stayed just a couple blocks away from La Sorbettiera, and twice took home “To Go” containers. I think they were €13, and we got 3 or 4 flavors in the compostable “styrofoam” box.

My favorite is listed at the bottom. Also including what we did on this last trip, in case you need ideas. Have a great time! I just made pasta again last night at home - delicious!

Florence – 2 nights: I booked a fantastic location for us at Relais Piazza Signora. Our room had the view of the outdoor statue of David and beautiful sunrises over the piazza. It also was extremely handy to be at the Uffizi Gallery for our timed entry. I typically prefer to visit art galleries in smaller cities because they’re usually almost empty, and the art can be enjoyed as intended. I will admit I wasn’t looking forward to clambering with the crowd with their selfie shots at the Uffizi, but our daughter needed the chance to see it. Imagine the joy of discovering that we were so early that no one was in most of the rooms, and we really could gaze at these priceless works of art with no interruptions or noise! It wasn’t until we circled back as we finished to see the Venus we somehow missed that we met the wave of people coming down the hall. Two other activities that we definitely recommend were a city bike tour with “I Bike Florence – Original City Bike Tour” and a cooking class, “Pasta Class Florence, The Art of Pasta – Authentic Recipes”. I have been to Florence a couple of times. The bike tour took us to some of the places I hadn’t seen previously, and it was an overall fun experience for both of us. We saw so much during the three hours! Our guide, Martina, was excellent with lots of info, too. The pasta class was excellent! Our chef taught us how to make three different filled pastas and three widths of straight pasta. He offered me a job after seeing my rectangle of pasta dough & shapes. Hmmm! ; ) (Probably from my experience of making lots of croissants after a class in Paris.) His sauces were wonderful – some new excitement added to traditional recipes. We will definitely be making these recipes at home! Two places across the Ponte Vecchio bridge to recommend: I found my favorite Florence gelato shop again – Gelato Mancuso on Via Guicciardini, the main street up from the bridge.

You can't swing a cat in Florence without hitting a gelateria. Try them all and decide for yourself which is best. Now there's a challenge.

La Strega Nocciola Gelateria Artigianale
Via Ricasoli, 16R, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy

Another vote for La Strega Nocciola. In 2018, (Best of Venice, Florence and Rome), our tour guide, Tina Hiti, took us there because it was her favorite. Last October, we visited it again on our Heart of Italy tour and it was still so delicious and fresh. We have been to Italy nine times and this has been our all-time favorite gelato. Our second favorite is GROM (Via del Campanile, 2) . Enjoy!

GROM is a venerable place. For a “chain,” they get it right. Another “chain,” which also features superior chocolate for sale, in addition to their gelato (which gets a piece of chocolate on top of the scoops, if you like), is Venchi. There are two locations in the Florence old town, and one of the days last fall there was a long line at the one we’d stopped in. Two Spanish young ladies, obviously excited at being in what I’m guessing was their prime destination in Florence, kept gesturing in my face, pointing beyond me at the menu of flavors on the wall. They were really tall, and I’m not, so I was in their line of fire, especially since they kept crowding against me, as if that was going to make the line move faster. When the line got to a hairpin bend, they cut around in front of me. I spoke up and moved back in front of them.

Venchi has a separate line entrance (with no line!) for those who are there for chocolates, so they don’t get in the long gelato queue. The gelato was worth the ordeal, but it’s even better when there’s not such a long line.

LaCarraia is my favourite.
Try not to go to the ones where the gelato is brightly coloured, decorated and whipped up.
Look for the shops selling artisanal , natural , locally made gelato instead.

We were just in Florence, unfortunately Perche No is closed.
A waiter at Centopoveri suggested Gelateria la Carraia (Oltrarno) which we tried and enjoyed. But as others have said, you won't have any trouble finding good gelato all over Florence!

We tried Perche No (it means Why Not?) in Florence a few weeks ago and it was also closed. It may just close early. Does anyone know if it is closed forever?

We loved la Carraia just over the bridge. We tried many.

The best one IMO is the one that is right there when you need it!

My two reliable go-to's are:

Gelateria Carabe- Owners background are Sicilian, I found their fruit flavors more developed and crisp.
Gelateria La Carraia- Their deep chocolates I really like, who knew there could be such a variety of dark chocolates

Be sure to give cantelope gelato a try in Florence. Top five good things I ever put in my mouth, and that's saying something at 68!

I've never met a gelateria I didn't like. I think the best one is the one closest to my mouth. I think you should try all of them and report back. Buon viaggio!

Our RS guide , when we were in Florence, told us the best gelato is not the fluffy stuff, as good gelato is not that stiff and different flavors need different temperatures of refrigeration. He said to look for the shops in which the gelato in in bins inside the refrigeration, and all you can see is the tops of the lids to the containers. I dedicated my days to researching that, often sacrificing myself to eating gelato morning, afternoon, and evening, and I believed I proved him to be correct!

Pat, I need to remember your description of "research"!

For those of us dairy free is there a suggestion on places to get good sorbetto?

Should I ask-
How bad is gelato for you, regarding Calories, fat, sugar content?
It doesn't FEEL as fattening as cake or ice cream.......

Should I ask-
How bad is gelato for you, regarding Calories, fat, sugar content?
It doesn't FEEL as fattening as cake or ice cream.......

Gelato has 25% less calories and 50% less fat.

Yes! There is a higher being!!!!

Perche No appears still to be in business, but there's disagreement about its operating hours.

According to the gelateria's Facebook page (which is what I'd trust, with fingers crossed):
Sun-Mon and Wed-Thu: noon till 7 PM
Fri-Sat: noon till 10 PM
Closed Tue

According to Google:
Sun-Thu: 11 AM till 7 PM
Fri-Sat: 11 AM till 10 PM

I imagine it will be open later than 7 PM in warmer months. It was closed for a winter break this year; it reopened on Feb 14.

As for dairy-free frozen treats, I think you'll find options in virtually every gelateria.

The best gelato in Florence is the one that is in front of you. But always artiginale.

Seconding recommendation for honeydew and cantaloupe gelati being a top thing ever eaten, though IIRC I had mine in Milan. We hit no fewer than 7 gelaterias in three days in Florence. There is no bad gelato there outside of places that cater to tourists.

https://www.visitflorence.com/eating-and-drinking-in-florence/gelato-in-florence.html