The Bon Vivant Blog

Recommended by the Lonely Planet Italy guidebook, we found this place after dinner at Ristorante Alla Madonna. While the LP said it closed at 8pm, we found it open at about 9:30pm on this warm August night – lucky for us. A small, unassuming place in this crazy city – we found it almost by [...]

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A very well-known purveyor of gelato in Bologna which has won awards . It is a different kind of gelato from what we had a Perche No – much richer-tasting with a fuller mouth feel. In fact, as they are scooping it out from the containers, the gelato just looks thick and hangs off the [...]

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In contrast to Sorbetteria Castiglione, this is just an ice cream window with two servers flanked with a row of ice cream mixers/makers. It would be easy to walk past this place if it weren’t for the line of customers. The fact that there is a line-up even at 11pm tells you that this is [...]

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In August, Bologna gets hot. I don’t mean some jerk saying “hot enough for ya?” hot – I mean run from shadow-to-shadow hot. It is one of the hottest places in Italy in the summer, and generally speaking the entire town (mostly) closes down for the month. It is ridiculous by mid-day – 38 degrees [...]

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Perhaps we were spoiled by some of the amazing gelato in Bologna and Florence, but we thought that this was really bad gelato. The lineup inside and the crowd enjoying the gelato outside made us think this place must be good, but the three sorbetto flavours we tried – grapefruit, strawberry, and lemon were so [...]

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This place is worth seeking out when you are in the city centre – seek it out more than once if you have time. As you stroll the streets of Florence displays of gelato piled high and decorated with fruit will entice you at every corner. Ignore those poor imitations of real gelato. Seek out [...]

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