Tour del Gelato: Il Massimo del Gelato, Milan

Stop the presses.

We’ve just found our new, absolute favorite gelateria in all of Italy. Yes we’re ready to go that far to claim it as such.

Before I go on, make sure you check out other stops on the Tour del Gelato – we’ve had several new ones in the past few weeks, just in time for the height of gelato season. You can participate no matter where you are in the world! David also just posted a great post on “What is Gelato” that re-confirms what I had also learned recently – gelato is actually lower in fat than regular ice cream!! Make that three scoops, please!

I’m also still looking for Fernet Branca lovers all over the world to fill out my quick, anonymous survey and/or contact me.

So, back to our new favorite. Il Massimo del Gelato, recommended to me by several people, isn’t that far from our house so we decided to take a little “road trip” and seek it out to see if it was worth the hype. There was a small group of people eating outside and quite a few more inside. There is only one bench to sit and eat. Most people were getting to-go containers to take home, and walking away with their cones and cups.

By internal couple law, we got 6 entirely different flavors so we could try as many as possible and see how they “measured” up. With every flavor, we sounded like a broken record: WOW! complete with eyes popping and incredulous looks on our faces.

I have to apologize for my photos – I brought the small camera because I think shop owners get nervous with the big horsepower, and there were so many people in there that I couldn’t get very many good shots. When I asked about taking pictures, she actually told me “Don’t steal the gelato!” so they obviously know they’ve got something good going on.

My 3-flavor cup yielded me….

• Pistacchio (stand-by favorite…a staple) – this one was salted!
• Cioccolato all’Azteca (chocolate with cinnamon and hot pepper)
• Mandorla (almond)

I think Mandorla has surpassed all my previous flavors as current favorite gelato flavor. il Massimo del Gelato’s Mandorla is everything it should be – creamy and literally packed with almonds.

One thing I really appreciate about il Massimo del Gelato is they use a number system. That is, you pay for your gelato first, you get the scontrino (receipt) and she hands you a number that will be called up on the electronic number thingee (sorry, it’s quite hot here, my vocabulary is suffering). That doesn’t mean that you can relax. You need to see all the flavors first so you’re ready by the time they call your number. There were another 8 granita flavors I didn’t get a chance to photograph or sample.

They had more than 6 chocolate flavors, and on the counter there was a little card that explained the names like Cioccolato Azteca, Cioccolato Jamaica. S got the Ecuadoriano which was 70% chocolate from Ecuador. Delicious. Also, the Canella (cinnamon) was extra delicious and I will be getting that one next time.

They won’t let you forget about the quality of their ingredients – right as you walk in the door there are stacks of fruit ready to be made into gelato! Mica che sono scemi. Ya, they’re nobody’s fool.

I highly recommend this place. It’s a little off the beaten path, but still accessible.

Il Massimo Del Gelato (Di Travani Massimo Augusto)
Via Castelvetro Lodovico, 18 – 20154 Milano (MI) – Tel 02 3494943
Google Maps to this location – Public transportation: Bus 43/57 or Tram 29/33 go semi-close