This year, 18 European gelato makers battled to determine who is the best gelato maker in the world. Each gelato shop created new, never before seen (or tasted) gelato flavors and the public voted for a winner of the 2016 Gelato Festival.
There was a total of 10 stages that took place throughout the year in ten different European cities including Rome, London, Berlin, Milan and Naples. The festival began its first round in Florence and finished the final round there.
The Sunday of the final stage, it was around 95 degrees in Piazzale Michelangelo and there were over 25 gelato pop up shops. The flavors ranged from delicious to bizarre and everywhere in between: lemon buffalo milk (bitter and sweet at the same time) pistachio pesto (crunchy pistachios and the creamy basil after note is to die for) and fresh mojito gelato, which Gelato-go proudly produced this week in Miami as you can see from the video below:
As is the Florence standard, the star of the festival was the “Buontalenti” flavored gelato produced by Badiani Gelateria. Named after the man credited for inventing gelato, Bernardo Buontalenti, this flavor most closely resembles the taste of condensed milk.
In the end, the popular vote went to Eugenio Morrone from the Roman Gelateria “Il Cannolo Siciliano.” His mandarino tardivo — mandarin, ginger and peppermint just could not be beaten by anybody else!
Congratulations!