tour del gelato in badolato, calabria
Ever have one of those evenings when all you want for dinner is ice cream?
Well today there will be no cooking (i.e., no What’s Cooking Wednesday for me, but do check out the others!) because we’re going out for gelato!
Those of you who have been around the Italian expat blogosphere for a while know that Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy runs a fabulous Tour del Gelato–a virtual tour of the best places you can enjoy gelato in Italy and elsewhere, or as Sara writes “discovering the world’s best gelato, one lick at a time!”
I’m not the only one getting gelato today, though. Be sure to head over to my Calabrian blogging buddy Cherrye’s My Bella Vita to check out her Tour del Gelato stop at Marrons Glacés in Catanzaro!
Last summer I featured Golosia in Gioiosa Ionica Marina, which is just down the SS106 from me. But today we’re staying right here in Badolato, in the Marina at least, and we’re going to:
I love sitting here on a late morning in the summer and enjoying a gelato.
First, your choices:
Oh, just in case you aren’t in the mood for gelato, how about a pastry?
I often go with pistacchio and some other flavor–today nocciola. Grazie Barbara!
Too pretty to eat?
Nah. Now hurry before it drips!
And just *look* at those hazelnuts.
So, if you’re in Badolato Marina in Calabria, stop in:
€uro Bar 2000
Pasticceria Gelateria
V. Nazionale, 180
88060 Badolato Marina CZ
Italia
338/545.2807
What’s your favorite flavor of gelato or ice cream?
43 Beans of Wisdom to “tour del gelato in badolato, calabria”
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[...] you, people … This stuff is that good. Now that you are hungry, head over to Bleedin... my-bellavita.com/2008/08/13/tour-del-gelato-marrons-glaces-in-catanzaro-calabria
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
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YUM!!!!
I’m on my way. Hope it doesn’t melt before I get there…
Actually, there is a ‘gelaterie’ on a trendy little street downtown; all the buildings are old and the shops are fun and new, there are little cafe’s and clubs and white lights strung thickly across the street to the extent that there is always a soft warm glow. There is music that plays out over the street from hidden speakers somewhere up above, and there’s always good people watching.
So a group of 3 friends and I go to have our ‘ice cream social’ there every 2-3 weeks, and catch up and play. Lots of fun. I like their hazelnut and dulce de leche… and their lemon/lime… their lemon is Calabrian Lemon, and it always makes me think of you, so I’ve mentioned you a few times in there.
;o)
Thanks for the delicious tour! Now then… off to the freezer.
I am prepared for these sneak attacks…
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
Wanderlust Scarlett’s last blog post..Say What?!
Oh that’s too funny about the Calabrian Lemon! I bet it’s tasty 🙂
Ice cream socials sound like so much fun…we may have to find a way to incorporate more of those here….
Unfortunately, I don’t eat much gelato – I don’t see it to often in my travels, believe it or not. I remember having Italian Ices as a kid – the slushy kinds that came in the paper cup with the wooden “spoon”. I always loved the chocolate and lemon flavors of those.
As for ice cream, I think my all time favorite is plain old chocolate, but I’m also a fan of coffee ice cream and when I eat that, it reminds me of my Dad.
I’m going to be on the lookout though for gelato and I will try to have one before the summer is over!
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Oh I *love* coffee ice cream! When you come here you *have* to have a Coppa del Nonno…the BEST! YUM!
My favorite is the pink pompelmo (grapefruit) ice from the Frigidarium (good name for a gelateria, no?) on the Lungomare in Rapallo. I haven’t seen it elsewhere, and it’s heaven – tart and sweet at the same time. Guess I’d better head down there today… oh yum!
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Sounds intriguing! I’ve never seen it, but I’d definitely try it 🙂
Looks divine Michelle. I am a firm believer that the gelato gets better the further south you travel! Maybe next summer I’ll get a chance to try out this place – chi lo sa?
joanne at frutto della passione’s last blog post..Taking some time with and for my boys
Sì!!!!! Come on down Joanne!
Mi piace molto gelato!!
I would say my favorite flavor is amarena/black cherry. Love it.
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Hope you’re getting in your fair share this summer, NYC/C gal…with this heat, you deserve it!
I love pistacchio, too and I love the amarena NYC mentions or spagnola!
YUM!
Cherrye at My Bella Vita’s last blog post..Tour del Gelato: Marrons Glacés in Catanzaro (Calabria)
Go with your fruit, girl! Mmmm….
I have David Lebovitz at The Sweet Life in Paris (www.davidlebovitz.com, the posting is “Paris Ice Cream Shops” from May 2007) to thank for turning me on to Paris’s best gelato . . .at Pozzetto. For me, I would say pistachio and gianduia (my husband *is* from Turin, you know, so gotta have that gianduia!!). Although he picked up pistachio and chocolate fondente this weekend and that’s spectacular too.
I’m curious from the photo . . .what the heck flavor is “Zuppa Inglese”??? I’m not sure I think of English soup when I think gelato! Have you ever tried it?
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Funny you should ask about Zuppa Inglese; there’s a bit of a discussion of it over at the Flickr page for the photo–just click on the photo to go there 🙂
Oh and no, I’ve never tried it. But since there’s been so much talk about it, perhaps I will next time!
I know I should have waited to look at your blog as now I’m drooling for a baci & nocciola gelato with some panna! My daughter is in Naples and i think I’ll have her bring one home for me next week! Great photos.
Thanks Gil, and that’s a great plan 😉
I have some serious mouth watering going on here.
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Step away from the computer slowly…. 😉
Oh What are you doing to me ??? You know Calabria ain’t just a walk around the corner from Australia! I am salivating…… I love Zuppa Inglese, they just don’t make it here. And when I saw those brioche they reminded me of eating them with Granita in Sicily…yumm. Thanks for the memory and have one for me.
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My pleasure on both accounts Vee 🙂
Anything chocolate, of course!
I recently discovered this place in my neighborhood, and with so many chocolate flavors to choose from, it was DIVINE. If anyone’s ever craving gelato in nyc:
http://www.grom.it/eng/pages/dove_NY.htm
And, of course, there’s always the Otto gelato cart on the northwest corner of Washington Square Park…
Mmmm, good post.
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Thanks for the recommendations on behalf of NYers 🙂
Will I fail at Italian living if I can’t learn to like noccolia? I think I’d be the only person in the country…
I’m with NYC too. And I love the fruit flavors…coco, frutti di bosco, fragola…We had one–pera e chocolato. MMMMM…
Ok. basta. this is torture.
Where in the World’s last blog post..The Robinsons
Well I just wouldn’t proclaim your nocciola dislike too loudly, that’s all 😉
Pera sounds *so* good!!!!!
Nocciola. Hands down!!
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I hear you girl!
Mmmm that looks so good right about now!!! I’ll take some please with a nice big brioche to go with my coffee!!! :-)~
Coming right up Marie 😉
For ice cream – chocolate, obviously, and the richer the better. For gelato, I generally go with fragola. Don’t ask me why. Maybe because it was the first gelato flavor I ever had and I’m always trying to recapture the experience.
Now, for Italian ice… you will laugh, but there is a gourmet Italian ice place down in Baltimore and they make a mojito ice that is awesome. Awesome, hun! It has real pieces of mint in it and everything.
paul of crazy like whoa’s last blog post..Where I’m from
I completely trust you on that Italian ice. Sounds *so* good!
I have to say fragola gelato *is* rather tasty even though I’m not a huge strawberry ice cream fan…I can see why you’d choose it. I always pair it with limone, of course 🙂
My favorite growing up was always a scoop of pistachio gelato and one of chocolate (or baci). Interestingly, while Switzerland is small, as a kid I remember that gelato was only available in Ticino — so visits to my mother’s family there always meant a gelato stop at some point 😀
Incidentally, two frozen desserts question for you:
1. I love pistachio gelato, though pistachio ice cream works just as well — yet even the later is hard to find in the U.S.. Yet pistachio is a flavor easy to find throughout Europe. Why do you think that is?
2. Living in Brooklyn I have discovered Italian Ices — but I am not sure I ever saw anything like that in Ticino or Northern Italy. Do you know if Italian Ices are exclusively an Italian-American concept?
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I have no idea why pistachio ice cream wouldn’t be more popular in America, especially since we supply lots and lots of pistachios (I see many bags from California even here!).
And as for Italian ice, I think maybe it started as a poor (Italian-American) man’s granita? Just a guess though as I’ve never seen anything else exactly like it here either.
P.S. — I have some more recent posts than last week’s chickpeas.
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Thanks! My blog must have heard you 🙂
There’s a place on via dei Serpenti in Rome that has the best chocolatey flavors – baci, gianduia, nutella, etc.
There’s a place in Pigneto in Rome (don’t know the street) that has amazing pistachio and also an incredible chocolate with hot peppers. And they also have ginger, violet flower, and other interesting flavors.
Here in Montpel there is an overpriced crappy gelato (4 euros for 2 pitiful scoops, plus extra for different flavors?!?!?!) that just plain sucks. BOO. But, the city’s boulangeries make up for it.
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Girl, it looks like you need to write up some stops on the Tour del Gelato…get thee to Roma!
OH MY GOSH! You’re killing me! I love gelato, so do my thighs and stomach! When I was in Sicily, I was fortunate that the Gelato Bar was across the street, a very narrow street and I would yell down from 6 floors up in the morning and the man who ran the bar would come out and ask me what I wanted and I said Brioche with Zuppa Inglese!!!! And then I would put the lira in the basket and send it down and he would put my brioche in the basket and I’d pull it up and that was my breakfast before heading out to the beach every morning! How I miss it!
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As we say around here, “Che servizio!” Now *that* is the way to start the day!
Nocciola and pistachio. I’m having serious withdrawal, living in a gelato deprived area! Actually I just discovered a place in San Diego owned by 2 brothers from Tuscany and it’s better than anything else around.
Glad you found something good Janie; I wouldn’t want to suffer *too* much withdrawal!
It depends on the mood but for the cream flavors I like Ciocolato and Cocco and the fruit flavors Fragola and Limone.
I worked in a Gelateria one summer – we have one right below our appartment in Alba Adriatica – the girl that was supposed to work the summer season got into a car accident and was unable to work. My parents who were friends with the owners volunteered my services. It kinda sucked since I had to be there at 7:30am to open – they were a coffee bar also. Upside – I had all the free ice cream I wanted.
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Oh you and I would do just fine choosing gelato together…I *love* those combos! And free gelato is definitely a bonus to having to be at work at 7:30. Sort of 😉
Looks delicious!
It’s such a fabulous perk of being here 🙂
Like so many people above nocciola is my all time favourite. Normally I have that, with bacio and stracciatella! YUM. I’ll be trying the gelato down at Catanzaro lido soon too…see what exactly Cherrye raves about!
A presto!!!
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I can second Cherrye’s enthusiasm for that place…*so* good 🙂
Oh yummy Michelle! The best gelato we ever ate was in Southern Italy. I wish I was there!
I love all the flavors and I’d try every one!
Hugs, Pat
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Wouldn’t it just be great to go in with a spoon and have free run of the place? Mmmmm….
My favorite is one scoop of coconut and any other “tropical” flavor….I can’t believe how unbelievably fresh and real the coconut tastes!
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Oh I *love* coconut! Another of my staples 🙂
when asked to describe me, one of my best friends said: “she doesn’t like to be touched, and she will do anything for ice cream.”
yup, so true. i love all kinds of ice cream, but for some reason “rocky road” holds a special place in my heart. your post reminds me to write another one for tour del gelato, i also wrote one last summer.
Oh that is such a fabulous description. Can’t wait to read your next stop!
Yum! I wish I were there!
Paz
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Wish you were too Paz! We’d have *so* much good food 🙂
just for that i think i know where i’m going for lunch……..to get gelato 🙂
i have “those” nights all the time. where i just want ice cream…or something sweet!
those hazelnuts. WOW, all i can say!
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Hee hee…I’m such a bad influence 😉
Oh yes! Tour del Gelato is back in full force! I’m so happy to know where to go down your direction…I don’t want to stumble around blind looking for good gelato! 🙂
So true Sara! I’m glad to be of service 🙂
Delicious, can never make my mind up!! Pistachio, Pineapple, Blueberry, mixed berries, Mango, Melon oh to name a few!!!
Just left a comment on cherrye’s post….added this link
How to Order a Gelato in Italy
thought it would be great for others too read as well…had a browse round the site and hey, who’s name do I see 🙂 🙂
Well actually I recognise a few of the names!!!
anne’s last blog post..Raf Benson Families Day
Oh thanks for that Anne! Jessica wrote a fabulous instruction sheet there; thanks for reminding me 🙂
You know, I read those other blogs and when you guys feature gelato, well, it just kills me. I am SO envious. We have so called gelaterias in Chicago, where owners boast they import from Italy or they make it here with imported ingredients and equipment. But the stuff never compares to the real thing. Sigh. Just. Not.Fair.
Next time have an extra scoop of either nocciola or nutella for me. With panna of course!
You don’t have to tell me twice Ariana 😉
So I have a question — and I realize I’m asking about random small logistics, but what can I say, I’m curious. You live in Badolato Superiore, right? and the gelato place is in Badolato Marina, ie on the water. What’s the distance between the two towns? Like, can you just saunter off to the gelato place, or is it more of an event (ie involving bus/commuter trains or a long walk, like 4-5km). Relatedly, you mentioned SS106 and Golosia and how some other restaurants are on SS106 — but none of these places seem that close by to each other.
If this is too personal a question, obviously feel free to delete the comment. Part of my fascination is that both villages my mom grew up in were small, and most people would bike 10km to the bigger town on a regular basis, and even 20 km to the larger one, because the autocar and the train ran only once an hour etc – and to me that feels incredibly isolating. My mom talks about visiting her friend in the next village over and walking 5 km each way when her bike was broken. Obviously things are different now — some people have cars and motorini (sp?), but many don’t.
Anyways, long rambling comment short (not really), I was just curious how easy it is to get around your part of Calabria since it doesn’t sound like you have a car or a bike, yet you do not seem isolated at all 😀
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Badolato Superiore and the Marina are about 3 km apart; I usually take a bus down to get there. It’s no big deal once you know the schedule 😉 They run less frequently than hourly, but really if you’re going somewhere and then have to take a bus back, that usually ends up working out well because it gives you time to do whatever you want, and there are always different buses running to the Marina, and since P’s parents are there, I can always pop in and visit them if I’m off schedule.
For example, on the day I went for this gelato, I took the bus down from Badolato Superiore at 9:55 am to the Marina; did some light grocery shopping, went to the butcher, got some Italian magazines and then got the gelato and caught the bus back up the hill at 11:15. You just have to get used to the schedules, and then it’s really not bad to be without a car. The trouble is in the evenings b/c the bus stops running up here at 5:30 pm, but P does have a motorino.
Now Gioiosa is certainly not close; it’s several towns down–probably a good hour, maybe even more driving. I wouldn’t go there just for gelato, certainly, but it is the best place I’ve found around here, which is why I wrote about it 🙂
Ok, can I still comment here if I admit I’ve never had gelato? But we have an Italian ice place nearby that is Yumm-O. I like so many flavors, but the watermelon is one of my favorites.
Now, as for ice cream. We’re addicts. There’s always ice cream in our freezer. And I’m thinking we’re gonna pile the kids in the car later and go get ice cream as my anniversary treat. 🙂 I like to mix it up with my ice cream, but if I could only have one it would be whatever had a chocolate base with loads of chocolatey mix-ins. Love me some chocolate.
And for the record, I think that it’s ok some days to have ice cream for dinner. 🙂 The kids LOVE me on those days!
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Chel, you *know* all comments are welcome! And I, too, love watermelon Italian ice–definitely my favorite flavor! If I’m going soft serve ice cream? Either vanilla or a vanilla/chocolate twist…but ALWAYS with rainbow sprinkles in a cone 🙂 Mmmmm….
I can only dream about the gelato we had in Italy, I see some Gelato shops opening up here. Gelato by name only, the taste will never compare!
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Well…it’s better than nothing I suppose 🙂
Oh how I wish there was something like this in Kansas City! Mmmmmm!
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Hey maybe you should start a gelateria in your tons of free time Kristen 😉 Don’t worry; I’ll enjoy some for you here!
Mouthwatering!! 🙂
Oh, God, I love gelato. Must be my Italian genetics. I just found out 2 days ago that there’s a Polish Bakery near my appartment that sells gelato.
It’s not exactly the same though. I would *kill* for a real, Italian, gelato. 😉
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I still think some gelato is better than nothing at all 😉 So nice to see you here!
Thanks for answering my questions — I have gotten spoilt with most of the last 10 years living near subway lines with frequent train traffic. But now that I think about it, when I lived near Zurich in high school, the commuter rail was hourly except for rush hour when there were like 2 trains an hour.
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Yes I think living in a city you can get very used to doing anything you want, when you want it, but that’s just one of the features of life here that anyone who’s staying for the long haul must adjust to; not everyone can, but for me, eh, where do I have to be in two minutes flat? Everyone’s always late in Italy anyway 😉
Shhh, I didn’t say that….
You have painted me a picture of a sleepy village, half empty and fairly poor, then you show me this splendor!
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Oh Judith, even the half empty, sleepy, poor villages in Italy must have gelato! I think it’s in the Constitution 😉
Variegato Amarena sounds intriguing – what type of cherries? And I love, love, love Zuppe Inglese gelato.
And oh, those pastries!
I so love gelato and all Italian desserts – wish I had more access in A2.
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They are black cherries, but that’s all I know. I think you need to get your Italian neighbor to start a bakery or gelato place….
How funny, I was just about to put a link up to my “gelato flavors decoded” post, and then found that someone else had posted my “ordering gelato” post already. 🙂 Well, here’s the gelato flavors post, where you can read all about Zuppa Inglese & many more:
http://www.italylogue.com/food-drink/italian-gelato-flavors-decoded.html
My favorites are numerous, and some of the ones I love are hard to pair with other flavors, so sometimes I make it tough on myself to get the perfect flavor marriage. Some of my old standbys are (in no particular order): caramello, amarena, cioccolato all’arancia, lampone, and cioccolato fondente. The one I have the hardest time pairing is liquirizia – husband says I’m crazy to even like it, but I can’t help it. I like black licorice. 🙂 I usually go with fior di latte as a 2nd flavor for that one, but I’m always on the lookout for a better combo.
For no reason I can figure out, I really like amarena & caramello together…
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Great info Jessica, thanks 🙂 I haven’t even seen black licorice gelato…strange since that’s *such* a huge thing here in Calabria…our liquirizia…l’oro nero di Calabria 😉
last visit to italy 8 years ago with my sisterinlaw we did a taste tour of gelato every day to every place we went to decide which had the best gelato and which flavor. our husbands thought we were crazy but we loved it. the winner “excalibur’ in our husbands hometown of santa caterina. now i hear of “granita”. what exactly is that?
michelle Reply:
April 14th, 2012 at 11:59 am
I love the fish at Excalibur, but I’ve never had their gelato! Granita is, roughly, flavored slushy ice — http://bleedingespresso.com/2007/06/whats-cooking-wednesday-coffee-granita.html