Sorbetteria Castiglione, Bologna

This is the first post in my travel review series.  Let’s call it “Italy is the best country ever and I absolutely love living here.”   Or some abbreviation thereof.

I thought it appropriate to start the series with Sorbetteria Castiglione, even though it was actually the last stop on the Bologna trip.  It was my first gelato experience in Italy (excluding my first Italy life in Florence) and one of the highlights of the trip.

The gelateria is really sweet inside, with lavender walls and orchids, and they have benches against the wall where you can sit and enjoy your cone and people-watch.

I chose a grande cone (3.20 euro) which granted me the privilege of three flavor choices.  But three was definitely not enough at Sorbetteria Castiglione, which offers a long list of choices above and beyond their traditional flavors menu (which looked solid, with pistachio, yogurt, caffe, cioccolato fondente, and stracciatella).

Their Creme Speciali menu captured my fantasy, and we all selected from it.  It was nearly impossible to decide—Dolce Karin (white chocolate gelato with caramelized hazelnuts)? Crema Michelangelo (almond gelato with whole pralines)?  Crema Guglielmo (espresso gelato with flakes of dark chocolate)?  Dolce Emma (egg custard and ricotta gelato with honey, lemon, and figs)?

I chose the Crema Michelangelo and Crema Guglielmo, which were ridiculously good.  Intensely rich, decadent, luxurious, but somehow still light on the tongue.  I also got Dolce Emma, which intrigued me because of all the different flavors (egg, ricotta, honey, lemon, fig.)  I’ve had fig gelato before and been impressed.  I was a little put off when I first tasted Emma because they didn’t use real figs but fig jam (basically it tasted like what’s in the center of a fig newton.)  And it just didn’t seem to meld very well with the lemon-honey-ricotta-egg combo.  Once I got past the fig issue, though, the taste really grew on me–but I don’t think it would be for everyone.

We discovered Sorbetteria Castiglione thanks to Mario Batali’s recommendations for Bologna, his favorite city, where he lived for 3 years.  After this trip, I understand why it’s his favorite city–and I’m dreaming about living there too!