Best Gelato in Verona – right next to Colomba d’Oro!

When in Italy, when the season gets warmer, the best way to cool off is to enjoy a good gelato. If you are staying at the Colomba d’Oro, the four-star hotel closest to the Verona Arena, you can easily try, on foot or by renting a bike at the hotel, all the ice cream where you can find the best gelato in Verona. Are you ready to discover delicious flavors and enjoy breathtaking views of the city while enjoying the best ice cream in town? Here are the ice cream parlors, selected for quality and customer care, that we recommend to those who choose to sleep in our luxury rooms in Verona.

In Via Roma, less than 500 meters from the Hotel Colomba d’Oro, you will find the Gelateria Savoia: a milestone in the gastronomic history of Verona, founded way back in 1939, its customers even had the film star Julia Roberts for which was specifically invented an extra dark dark chocolate ice cream with pink pepper. The iconic “Mattonella” (literally: “brick”), a compact and square ice cream with three layers (cream, chocolate and amaretto semifreddo) was invented here by the founder Ennio Savoia, who was inspired by the shape of military cigarette packs. Another specialty of the house are the renowned “Pinguini” (“penguins”), equipped witha little stick so that you can comfortably hold them with one hand and enjoy a small bite at a time while walking through the streets of the old town. In short, the Gelateria Savoia is an obligatory stop for those who want to test the finest gelato before entering the Verona Arena.

Moving towards the Portoni Borsari, maybe on your way to discover the ancient roman “Capitolium”, we highly recommend a pit stop at Vittoria 1938, in Via Diaz, just five minutes on foot (or a minute by bike!) from the Colomba d’Oro. This ice cream shop has existed for many years and has always boasted as its strong point a stall where you can comfortably sit down and enjoy ice cream with the comfort of table service: a true rarity among the ice cream shops in the old town. But for a few years now, new management, characterized by great care in the choice of raw materials, has further raised the quality of the ice cream, especially that with seasonal fruit; and it also brought the delicious novelty of Sicilian granitas, made from crunchy ice flavored with fruit (no milk, no dairy products), with the consistency of snow and the flavor of sorbets (you will find them during the period from May to September). There are those who say that this is absolutely the best gelato in Verona!

Heading towards Piazza Erbe, passing through Via Mazzini, you can’t talk about ice cream near the Colomba d’Oro without mentioning Venchi: with two strategically positioned locations, one in Via Mazzini (the main shopping street in downtown Verona) and the other in Via Cappello (right next to Juliet’s House), the strong point here lies in the direct control (not a simple franchising) by the “parent company” which is one of the oldest and most renowned Italian chocolate makers. And in fact, Venchi’s artisanal ice creams are made with the finest chocolate: whether it’s a cup of gianduia cream or a cone of hazelnut-covered strawberries. A few minutes’ walk from the Colomba d’Oro, Venchi is another ideal stop for a refreshing break during your visit to the old town.

The other two ice cream shops that we recommend are located on the other bank of the Adige river. This is a very easy and enjoyable walk, but if you want you can also rent a bike at the hotel to reach them fastly and enjoy a pleasant stop along the river.

Zeno Gelato e Cioccolato, in Via Sant’Alessio, is an artisanal ice cream shop that since 2018 has been regularly cited every year in the prestigious ” Ice Cream Shops of Italy” guide by “Gambero Rosso” Magazine. Here the strong point is the originality in the continuous invention of new original flavours: melon and lemon verbena, strawberry grapes, Glohaven white peach with elderflower, Abetone blueberry, blackcurrant and marjoram. Every month the flavors change, following the natural cycle of the raw materials offered by the earth; and when local fruits are no longer available, from November to Easter, the ice cream shop turns into an artisanal chocolate laboratory.

And as it is true that few ingredients are needed to create high quality ice cream, Q.B.Gelato in Via Santo Stefano n.9/10 is also a perfect example: here the ice cream responds to the imperative of being natural, healthy and artisanal. Even even if the range of flavors is not very wide, the sensations you will feel when tasting it are truly unique.