Which is Rome’s best kept secret?

Il mio gelato naturale di Ermanno di Pomponio, Via Luigi Poletti 2 Roma.

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update: New location @ Via Luigi Poletti 2 Roma

Mr. Ermanno’s ice cream shop is invisible. No signs or visible elements help you identifying the place. The address is the only key: via Romeo Rodriguez Pereira 170, Rome (the shop has moved to Via Luigi Poletti 2, Rome).

An opaque sliding glass door barriers the inside view of his shop from the eyes of people passing by.

Ring the bell and the door will slide open letting you. Mr. Ermanno will welcome you in a nice and elegant shop framed with awards, quality certificates and pictures testimonying his 3 generation family’s history of ice cream makers in Civitavecchia.

Mr. Ermanno is the first generation to establish a shop in Rome after 30 years of making “gelato” in Civitavecchia.

Let’s talk about Mr. Ermanno’s art: il gelato naturale is, an unique and delicious, natural and organic, ice cream for real lovers and passionates about gelato.

Nothing in Rome certainly compares to Mr. Ermanno gelato. And I’m ready to bet too that you have never tasted something better in all your life. His gelato is amazing from the first spoon you take (no ice cream cones, just cups are served).

Chocolate, Pistacchio, Nocciola, Crema, Croccantino ai frutti di bosco are the most common flavours you’ll find all year long.

The secret of his gelato? Really simply: Mr. Ermanno total committment to quality.

He uses only organic and first class ingredients as biodynamic milk and cream, nocciole (nuts) from the Langhe, Piedimont or Pistacchi from Bronte, Sicily or just the best qualities of cocoa as Amedei, Toscano black, Domori o Chuao.

His committment to quality could even appear, to the eyes of a first time visitor, excessive and even paranoic. Dare not ask for panna on top of your ice cream….otherwise at your risk!

Said that also to alert you that your cup of ice cream will be carefully weighted before handed to you. Exactly as in an expensive grocery store where you buy products as caviar or truffles. The price of a cup of ice cream is, indeed, another indicator of the extreme quality involved in his product: 50 euro per Kg.

So it may sound absurd paying almost 5 euro per a cup of ice cream but after tasting it you’ll understand why you’ll never care…

Open from 12 AM to 10 PM. Closed on Tuesday,

As mentioned in my previous post the formula is quite amazing: 15 euro for a complete menu including first and second course, dessert, coffee, water and wine.

Actually there’s no menu a la carte: there’s only the menu of the day where you have can choose between 2 available first course, 2 available second course and 2 dessert.
For example today’s menu included: hand made gnocchi with pesto e ricotta cheese or a cereal soup, veal with green peppers or small cuttlefishes, panna cotta or cheese cake.

Ingriediends are fresh and genuine. Eating is a pleasure also for your eyes due to the exciting architectural feature of the building where the restaurant is hosted.

Antonello Colonna is spending most of his time doing PR or chatting and meeting collaborators in order to get things get going: the new adventure is just at the beginning and he has a lot of suprises in his chef hat!