Gelateria La Romana in Rimini: What to Order and How It Works
Gelateria La Romana is a gelateria and pasticceria that started in Rimini in 1947 and now runs a long list of shops in Italy and abroad. The original shop is on piazza Ferrari 5 in the town centre, and the company's own listing names three further Rimini addresses. This guide covers where those shops are, how a visit works, what to order from the gelato case and the cake counter, and whether the stop is worth it when a one-shop artisan gelateria is an option.
What Gelateria La Romana is
La Romana is two businesses under one sign. The gelato counter is why most people come in, and alongside it sits a pasticceria counter selling small individual pastries and whole cakes. The official pastry page describes cakes made in each shop with selected ingredients and fresh cream, which is why the cake case belongs in your order rather than being an afterthought.
The company presents its Rimini founding as 1947, and the registered business is La Romana dal 1947 Srl, based in Rimini. Treat that date as the company's own account of its history rather than a verified archival record. What matters for a visit is simpler: this is a Rimini-born brand that has grown into a chain, so the main shop and a branch elsewhere work from the same range.
Where the Rimini shops are
The address to aim for is piazza Ferrari 5, the shop the company labels as its 1947 centre. Three more Rimini outlets appear on the same list: via Marecchiese 67, viale Rimembranze 67 and the Malatesta centre unit on via Emilia 150. If you are staying or parked on the edge of town, those save doubling back into the centre.
Piazza Ferrari is the handiest of the four for a walk-around visit, sitting in the town centre. If you are moving between the centre's food stops, plan the gelato last and pick whichever address fits your route home. The wider Rimini Attractions: 4 Visitor Guides gives you the surrounding picture if you want to build the day around more than one stop.
How a visit works
You order at the counter, choosing flavours from the case and paying at the till in the usual Italian gelateria way. Because the pasticceria sits in the same shop, you can add a small pastry or a slice of cake in the same transaction, which makes it a reasonable single stop for a sweet course. Ask for a small portion of pastries if you only want a taste alongside the cone.
The company also sells a prepaid, rechargeable card in its shops, marketed as a gift idea. A card only makes sense if you will visit La Romana more than once during your trip or want to give one to someone local; for a single cone it adds a step for no benefit. A gelateria counter is a walk-in stop, so expect queues rather than reservations at busy times.
What to order from the gelato case
Order gelato first. The company treats its ingredients as the selling point, and the sensible approach at any La Romana counter is to pick two flavours that contrast in texture, something creamy with something fruit-led, rather than stacking three or four. The chain runs a broad range across its shops, so what you see in Rimini is broadly what you get elsewhere.
The company does not publish a current list of monthly flavours on its site, so there is no point planning around a specific special before you arrive. Look at the case and choose from what is in front of you, and ask the staff what is what. If a flavour matters to you, that is a question for the counter, not for advance planning.
The pasticceria counter: what to order
The published cake list is long and specific, and it is the best guide to what a small pastry order should look like. Named items include a tiramisù, La nostra Sacher, Grandes Profiteroles, a Chantilly with wild berries or with strawberry, a cinnamon roll cake, a raspberry tart and a chocolate and biscuit cake called Golosa al cioccobiscotto. Order two or three small portions between two people rather than committing to a whole cake.
The same list includes whole cakes for occasions, with a Happy Birthday series in several versions such as one with toasted almonds and one with amaretti crumbs. If you are buying for a birthday in Rimini, that is the counter to use, but check what the individual shop has on display that day, since the range varies by location. A semifreddo with cream and strawberry or cream and peach appears on the list for weekends, a useful cue for a Saturday or Sunday stop.
Small pastries versus a whole cake
For a visitor, small portions win almost every time. They let you try a Sacher and a profiterole side by side, they travel better than a sliced cake, and they cost less in absolute terms than a whole cake, though the shops set their own prices and you should ask at the counter. Whole cakes make sense for a group, a birthday or a picnic where you can sit down and serve properly.
One trade-off worth naming: the cake counter is where La Romana behaves like a modern chain, with a large, uniform range and gift packaging. If you want a single, distinctive local speciality made in one kitchen, a small standalone pasticceria will usually feel more specific. If you want a reliable tiramisù or profiterole with your gelato and no hunting around, the combination here does the job.
Taking it away and delivery
La Romana runs a takeaway and home delivery service through its own ordering site, and the company names four shops where it applies: Padova Corso Milano, Verona, Rivoli and Pavia. If you are in one of those four cities, order for collection or to an address there.
Ordering ahead is most useful for a cake or a large tub for a group rather than one or two cones. The delivery page sets out what the chain will send and where, so read it before you build a meal around it.
La Romana beyond Rimini
The chain's location list stretches well beyond Emilia-Romagna, with Rome shops including one on via Venti Settembre 60, plus Bergamo on via Tiraboschi, Modena on via Tagliazucchi, Parma on viale Tanara, several Milan addresses and Treviso on viale Cesare Battisti. That matters if you travel on after Rimini: the same counter and roughly the same range turn up in most Italian cities. It also makes La Romana easy to treat as a fallback rather than a destination.
There are shops outside Italy too, from Madrid and Paris to Dubai and Vienna, so the brand you meet in a Rimini piazza is the same one you may have queued at elsewhere. That scale is the honest context for judging it: you are at a well-run chain, not a one-off.
Is it worth a stop in Rimini?
Yes, if you want gelato and a pastry in one go and you are already in the centre. No, if your priority in Rimini is a single artisan gelateria with its own flavours, in which case a small independent shop is the better use of one ice-cream stop. The case for La Romana is convenience and range: two counters, a long cake list and a location on piazza Ferrari that fits between other stops.
Treat the piazza Ferrari shop as one sweet stop on a food-led walk and see how the gelato compares with what you eat elsewhere in the city. If you want something savoury first, Osteria de Borg is a Rimini option for a proper sit-down meal before the cone.
Nearby in Rimini's centre
Piazza Ferrari puts you in the town centre, so a cone here slots into an afternoon of errands and eating. Mercato Coperto di Rimini is the obvious pairing if you want to see food stalls before settling on something sweet.
If you want coffee or an aperitivo later, Caffè delle Rose is another Rimini option to keep in mind. Keep the gelateria as a short stop of twenty minutes or so rather than a half-day plan; these are counters, not places to linger.
Should you build your Rimini day around La Romana?
Make piazza Ferrari 5 your La Romana stop if you are in the centre and want gelato plus a pastry from one counter, and use via Marecchiese 67, viale Rimembranze 67 or via Emilia 150 only if they suit your route. Order two contrasting flavours and two or three small pastries between you, and leave whole cakes for a group or an occasion.
If you want one shop with one maker's own flavours, spend your single sweet stop elsewhere in Rimini and treat La Romana as the reliable fallback it is. Prices and what is on the counter are set in the shop, so ask before ordering anything larger than a cone.