I sometimes daydream about owning a little gelateria in Florence. It’s a happiness business… and the ever-present tourists keep the tills ringing.
If I did, it would be somewhere like this. La Sorbettiera in Piazza Tasso. It’s away from the tourist hotspots and you’re more likely to queue with locals buying tubs for a dinner party than with visitors. That’s usually a good sign.
Ten years ago my niece fell in love with the place. There’s a children’s playground in the piazza, so she could work up an appetite on the swings first. On one visit she made my cousin Joe queue up again with her, just so she could tell the owner he made the best ice cream in Italy.
I think about that every time I go back. Sometimes I send her a pic like this one, so she knows it’s still going strong.
Andrew Greenhalgh 