Venice: Organic ice-cream
What a shame: Italy is one of the largest producers of organic food and the home of the gelato – but if you want to have an organic ice-cream in Venice you have to stick to Amorino, a French franchise concept, famous for its elaborate ice-cream served in the shape of roses. Two shops in town (one in Cannaregio, one in S. Polo) serve their expensive, yet very palatable fare. The flavours marked "organic" are 100 percent organic and organically certified, other flavours may contain organic ingredients, too.
Once predominantly organic, but no more
Right after arrival at Venezia Santa Lucia train station, you may arm yourself for the queueing at the waterbus ticket office with an ice-cream, milk-shake or granita from Gelateria Grom fronting the entrance hall towards Canal Grande. Before the acquisition by Unilever in 2015 they promised to use organic milk, some organic fruit, only natural ingredients and of course no additives, and had in general an eco-conscious agenda. However: Following the acquisition all hints to the former supplier of organic fruit, the Mura Mura farm, gradually disappeared. In 2019 the promise was reduced to "natural ingredients", and the only thing they promised to use in organic quality is the milk for the milk shakes ("frappe"). In 2022 also this hint was gone, but I spotted an organic milk package next to the coffee machine at the St. Lucia branch in June 2023. Nevertheless – the ice-cream is still good, and a favourite of the locals, too, as can be seen by the increasing number of often crowded Grom branches in Italian cities.
For the ice-cream you have to specify a size – small, medium or large – and can choose a suitable number of varieties; up to two varieties for the small size, and up to three for medium size. For something different (or if you are vegan) try a granita water ice slush. However, these are served in plastics-coated paper cups, while you can have your ice-cream in an eatable (and compostable) wafer "cono".
Grom has more, in fact older branches in Venice, one of them on Campo San Barnaba square. If departing the waterbus at Ca' Rezzonico stop you can't miss it when following the only way into the open of the square and keep an eye on the left side.
Watch out for green-washed independent ice-cream parlours
On local websites the owner of Gelateria Alaska, a small whole-in-the-wall shop near Campo Santo was dubbed "king of organic ice-cream in Venice", so I went there to try and ask. While the all-natural ice-cream itself was perfectly palatable he told me that the main ingredients, milk and sugar, were too expensive, but he would occasionally use organic fruit and spices. Unfortunately he couldn't tell me whether any of the flavours on display contained organic ingredients that day.
If you read my post on Rovigo you may be tempted to try Gelato Fantasy in Calle dei Fabbri. DON'T! They are not connected with the Gelateria Fantasy in Rovigo, and they definitely do not use organic ingredients.
Ceased to exist
The following place does no longer exist, though you find still find references on the web:
2023-06-04 13:15:00 [Venice, Venezia, organic, ice-cream] Link
