Devine Gelato Wine

Anyone who lives any time in Italy is bound to have a favourite gelateria: the place where they make "the best Gelato in the world".  I have heard arguments break out between normally rational people about where to find the best  Pistacchio or  Cioccolato and there are those who, with the same seriousness as they would offer their opinion on politics,  debate the merits of the Caffé or Zuppe Inglese at their preferred ice cream shop.  And I admit that I have been known to take part in these world-shaking discussions on several occasions when defending Leonard at Tropical Ice.   Though there are three other excellent gelaterie in our area if asked to name "the best" it would have to be the creamy delights and fresh flavours that Leonardo serves up.

However if by some miracle Gelati DiVini were to be moved lock, stock, staff and gelato tubs from Piazza Duomo in Ragusa to Porta Pia I'd be hard pressed to choose between the two.  This little shop and its sister shop next door offer two of my favourite Italian foods groups - gelato and wine.  And it mixes them.

I had read about Gelati DiVini (a lovely play on words - it could be read as either Wine Gelato or Devine Gelato) in Lonely Planet and on several websites and everyone lauded its fresh, creamy, often unusual and frequently wine inspired flavours.  When I arrived on Monday to find it closed up and a peep through the window revealed empty counters my heart sank.  I'm not saying that I prayed to blessed San Giorgio in his eponymous Duomo across the way but miraculously the next day I found their shutters open, tables set out in the Piazza and most important the counter now filled with jewel-like tubs of gelato.

There were 22 flavour available and though each was labelled - sometimes using a play on words - there were also little indications of the ingredients on each tub - a piece of fruit, a wine cork, a pod or spring of what had been turned into icy goodness.  And though my two favourites, Pistacchio and Caffé, seemed to be missing a few of the old standards were there -  Strawberry, Chocolate, Pear and Cream.  However you don't go to Gelati DiVini for the standard flavours - you go for the unusual and unusual they were offering.  How does Ricotta, Cardamon or Date gelato sound?  Or how about Beet, Peppered Chocolate or Carob?  Or Moscato, Rose or Marsala for those of us that like the idea of the mix of Gelatoria and Enotecha?

For my first go-around - yes I visited the smiling Rosalie twice during the day but I only ordered the medium size cup said he with a defensive tone in his voice - I had the Moscato and, at her suggestion, the Fragoline (field strawberry). DiVini! Laurent was a little more adventurous and went for the Date and the Beet. Beet??? Yes I had a taste of it but since my doctor once told me not to eat beets because they were disgusting I passed on that one. An interesting flavour not to my liking but very much to his.

Before tackling the 232 steps up to the first approach to Ragusa Superiore later that afternoon a gelato surge was required. This time I went for the Marsala - yes I know more wine - and Cinnamon with the sweetness of the wine contrasting with the bite of the spice. Laurent recharged with fiery Peppered Chocolate and cooling Fiori di pane (Rich Cream). Just what both of us needed - not for our waistlines on this trip but for our energy levels.

But before I left I had to ask Rosalie about one of the flavours that was puzzling me: Gocce Verdi. Now verdi means green and gocce means a drop - a drop of green???  That sprig of green should have been a dead give away but she gave me a taste and said "tell me what it is?"  It was olive oil - subtle but there;  the taste that Sicilia is famous for transformed into cold, creamy gelato.

Perhaps I should have stopped by and asked San Giorgio about doing that lock, stock, staff and tub transporting thing.

18 maggio - San Leonardo Murialdo

La Dolce Sweeta

I'm sorry I know I should have resisted but I couldn't - I've come all over Fellini this week.

What you don't get it? How old are you?

You see his most famous film was La Dolce Vita which means The Sweet Life but dolce in Italian also means dessert so I was making a play on ... oh never mind.

Anyway as I was saying before I interrupted myself, on menus in trattoria - or osteria or bars or restorante for that matter - Dolce is the dessert. It seems that after an anti-pasti, a primi and a secondi with side dishes you are expected to have room for a dolce or at least fruit. Because of the gluten thing I tend towards the fruit myself and I don't think I've ever in my life eaten as much pineapple as I have in the past three years. I'm wondering what they did for a frutta before the nice people at Dole started importing into Italy?

Often when you ask about the dolce the waiter, with a slightly glazed look in his eye, rattles off the standard list: Panna cotta, tiramisu, crema catalana, torta di Nonna, tartufo, sorbetto, gelato or frutta. And as I've discovered lately, one of my favorites, affogato seems to be there for the asking but just never mentioned.

There are meals where the dolci are as ordinary as the tone in which they were recited and then there are Dolci:


Sometimes the closest the torta di Nonna (Grandma's cake) has come to a Nonna is that the factor owner's grandmother may have visited it once; and then there is the Torta di Nonna served by Lorenzo and Bibo at the Bristolino in Pesaro. Not sure if they actually use their nonna's receipt - every nonna has her own and every one is special - but it is buttery, moist and redolent of lemon and pine nuts. And in this case its served between the secondi and the dolce just in case you need something to fill the gap while you're waiting.


And their green apple sorbet is a great finish to a big seafood meal. Sorbetto here is more liquid then we think of it in North America. Whipped frozen fruit essence perhaps with a bit of egg white beaten in and sometimes a lacing of prosecco or vodka but always served with a spoon and a straw

Then there is the ubiquitous pineapple:


Staying with the Fellini theme, the Grand Hotel in Rimini serves their pineapple as a "carpaccio" - thin slices of pineapple piled up and topped with a Florentine cup filled with creamy pineapple gelato and garnished with fresh berries. Mr Dole would be proud.


Not to be outdone, the marvelous Osteria Piazzetta dell' Erba in Assisi serves theirs as a topping for a ricotta filled canolli perched in a pineapple puree.


And their whipped vanilla Yogurt mousse was studded with chunks of juicy pineapple and slices of kiwi.

Then there's gelato:

Again Stefano at dell' Erba knows that presentation is as important as taste so for his sampling of fresh fruit gelato each scoop is topped with a slice of the source of its flavour. That evening it was baked fig, pineapple, green apple, ground cherry and kiwi. Though honestly the tastes were so intense that no visual reminder, as pretty and tasty as they were, was necessary.

The odd time you will get sorbetto served in hollowed out lemon or orange. At the lovely terrace dining room of Hotel Umbra, hidden in an alley way off the Piazza del Commune di Assisi , they've adapted the presentation. The chestnut, plum and banana gelato were served in a chestnut shell, a hollowed out plum and a tiny banana skin. Lest I make it sound like presentation was everything the gelato was delicious. It was the perfect end to a meal that had started out with the best eggplant parmigiana I have ever eaten.


And back at dell'Erba, being so close to Perugia and because apparently there are people out there who like the stuff, they had to have something chocolate. So how about a sampling of profiterolle, chocolate custard, chocolate gelato, white chocolate mouse and a white chocolate semi-freddo. And keep in mind this was meant for one person - though extra spoons were given just in case peer pressure forced you to share.

And I've become convinced that all of these things are miracle diet foods - after all I've lost weight since I came here and I rarely end a meal without a dolce!

10 settembre - San Nicola da Tolentino

Sunday in the City

I've gone on often enough about how the only way to manage life in Rome is to get the hell out of it! And we are trying to do that more and more but there are times when a weekend in the city can have its own rewards.

Sunday morning we headed into Centro at around 1000 to meet our friends Walter & Robert and Larry & Vincenzo at Caravita, an English-language parish just near Piazza Venizia.

The Palazzo Rinuccini faces Venizia at the entrance to Corso, the main shopping street that joins Piazza Venizia to Piazza di Popolo, and was the residence of Maria-Letizia Ramolino Buonoparte, Napoleon's mother, after her son's fall. She lived there from 1815 until her death in 1836 at the age of 86. Much of her time, even after the onset of blindness, was spent on the green shuttered balcony overlooking the Piazza.

After mass we headed over to Il Barroccio on Via dei Pastini for a nice leisurely lunch: Cured meats and sausages, mozzarella, grilled eggplant and zucchini, a vegetable-chocked Rubatela, lamb stuffed pasta with a light fresh pea-studded sauce, a very good Sicilian red, a slice of confetti cake and a glass of amaro. And much laughter and a bit of carry-on.
After lunch we strolled down to see what was happening in Piazza della Rotonda and found the area around the Pantheon crowded with Sunday strollers and tour groups. There really doesn't appear to be an "off-season" for tourism these days in Rome. Next week, with the beginning of Holy Week, will be madness. I think we'll just avoid Centro or better yet get out of town.

And of course if your going to wear the uniform of the Polizia Municipale its always best to fashion accessorise with trendy red-framed glasses but do hide that cigarette in the palm of your hand just in case the Commissairio walks by.

When Pius VII had them proclaim his glory for restoring the Pantheon and major work on the Piazza, I'm not sure he was thinking of the Macdonald's that would be installed there two centuries later. He was the Pope who, though having been kidnapped and held for six year by the French, asked for better treatment for Napoleon on St. Helena. And he offered refuge in Rome to members of the Bonaparte family including Maria-Letizia. (I have to admit the Macdonald's sign is so unobtrusive that I missed it the first few times I was in the Piazza.)

If the crowds were bad at Rotondo the mob was worse at Giolitti, but service was quick, efficient and any wait was worth it.

What we were all after - the best gelato in Rome. Mine: a medio cornetto - half coffee-half pistachio. Larry's: the same but without the fattening cornetto! The world is a good place!

And to further prove that point the camellia tree outside the front door is in full bloom.

11 marzo - San Constantino