Best Gelato in Genoa: 10 Gelaterie Worth Walking For

What makes Genoese gelato different

Genoa's gelato tradition runs through the caruggi, the narrow lanes of the historic centre, where shops sit a few doors from pastry counters and chocolate workshops. Ligurian milk and cream appear in the recipes, and several shops keep a specifically Genoese repertoire rather than a generic Italian one: panera, crema di pinoli and canestrello sit alongside pistachio and hazelnut. That local flavour list is the reason to eat gelato here rather than treat it as a generic city break snack.

A useful snapshot of the city comes from GenovaToday's report on the Gambero Rosso guide's 2024 selection of ten Genoese gelaterie: Amedeo, Buonafede, La Cremeria delle Erbe, La Gelateria di San Nicola, Gelatina, Genovesi, Massimiliano Chiumeo, Profumo, Cremeria Sestri and Siculo. Some are historic institutions, others are new shops built around design and bookshelves. Treat that 2024 list as what the guide rated that year, not a live ranking, and note that this guide's own ten picks below overlap with it but are not the same list.

Antica Gelateria Amedeo, Boccadasse: a 1927 latteria by the sea

Antica Gelateria Amedeo sits on via Boccadasse, a few steps from the small beach, and still carries the sign reading latteria igienica, a hygienic dairy, with the date 1927 when the business started. The historical link is milk sold fresh and loose, and the shop now works in both traditional and more unusual flavours. Queues form outside at busy times because of the location as much as the gelato.

Order the Crema Amedeo, a cream base with caramelised peanuts and yogurt, and add a panera if you want the Genoese reference point at your first stop. Torrone al pistacchio, crema di riso and cinnamon are the other flavours to look for, and there are vegan options alongside the fruit and granita. Boccadasse is a 20-minute bus ride east of the centre, so pair it with the lungomare rather than squeezing it between two caruggi stops.

Romeo Viganotti, Salita del Prione: chocolate since 1866

Romeo Viganotti began as a chocolate factory in 1866 and the chocolate is still the reason to come to Salita del Prione, where the gelateria opened next to the historic pasticceria in 2014 in a thirteenth-century room. The chocolate range covers fondente 60%, fondente 100%, fondente with orange, with ginger, and with almonds and salted caramel, so you can taste the same house style across several scoops. Milk and cream come from Liguria and Piedmont, and the cheese flavours use cheeses from the Caseificio Valle Macra in Morra.

The cheese gelato is the trade-off: ricotta with caramelised walnuts, gorgonzola with walnuts, gorgonzola with chocolate, and blues made from goat's and cow's milk. They are excellent if you want something savoury-edged and odd, and a poor choice if you wanted a plain scoop of fiordilatte. Sorbets and granite are water-based and naturally vegan and lactose-free, and there is a wide vegan and lactose-free range across the counter.

Cremeria Buonafede, via Luccoli: panera between two biscuits

Cremeria Buonafede on via Luccoli is known for its fresh cream and for the panera genovese, a coffee semifreddo made with cream and sugar, served either as a single portion or pressed between two biscuits. The milk comes from a farm in Masone in the Ligurian hills, and the recipe is handed down through generations rather than invented for visitors. Order the panera first here; it is the shop's defining item.

Beyond the classics, the counter runs fiordipanna with figs and walnuts, turmeric and ginger, and mandorla di Noto, an almond flavour named for the Sicilian town. The crema all'uovo is made like a custard with milk, cream, sugar and egg yolk, scented with citrus and Bourbon vanilla. This is a caruggi stop, so eat standing outside and keep walking.

Gelatina, via Garibaldi: basil gelato and bookshelves

Gelatina on via Garibaldi is part gelateria, part bookshop, with tables, a counter and shelves of books around the room. The flavours lean towards herbs, spices and fruit rather than pure classics, and the gelato al basilico uses basilico di Pra DOP, the protected basil grown in the Pra district west of Genoa. ConGelato describes Gelatina as having been named Migliore Gelateria Emergente d'Italia by the Gambero Rosso, its emerging gelateria award.

Try the Acamante, almond with sage and lemon plus an almond crunch, or the lemon and sage cream, and the mascarpone with figs, walnuts and passito di Pantelleria. Via Garibaldi is one of the Strade Nuove, the grand sixteenth-century street of palazzi, so this is the most comfortable stop for sitting down with a cup. It is also the natural pause on a walk through the Centro Storico.

Profumo, vico Superiore del Ferro: rose gelato by the pastry shop

Profumo sits in vico Superiore del Ferro, one of the caruggi running down from via Garibaldi, a few metres from the historic pastry shop Villa it is connected to. The flavours follow the season: raspberry, pear, chocolate, pistachio and hazelnut, with lime and a rose gelato made from centifolia roses as the less usual choices. Hazelnuts come from Piedmont and pistachios from Sicily, and the fruit gelati are lactose-free.

Because it belongs to a pasticceria, one stop covers both a scoop and a box of pastry, which is useful if you are shopping for a picnic or a train. Profumo was among the shops holding the Tre Coni in the 2024 Gambero Rosso coverage, so expect a queue in the evening.

Cremeria Sestri, Sestri Ponente: fruit and basil out west

Cremeria Sestri in via Donizetti is in Sestri Ponente, well west of the centre, and rotates around 30 flavours following the seasons. The fruit gelati are the strength, with peach and Brachetto, raspberry from the Val di Taro, and fig and apricot, and the basil gelato is the flavour to try if you want the savoury-herbal register. Sicilian granite and fruit sorbets are also on the counter.

This is not a stop you pass by accident; it makes sense if you are staying in the western neighbourhoods or heading to the airport. Build it into a Sestri walk rather than detouring from the caruggi for one scoop.

Cremeria Ciarapica and Cremeria Gran Sasso: two more historic counters

Cremeria Ciarapica on via Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi is a historic pasticceria and gelateria run by the same family across generations, with Ligurian flavours such as panera and crema di pinoli alongside blueberry tart and sacher. It is the kind of shop where the pastry case and the gelato counter carry equal weight.

Cremeria Gran Sasso on piazza Paolo da Novi has been running for more than thirty years, and the whole range including the cones is gluten-free, with lactose-free options such as dark chocolate and fruit. Order the crema Gran Sasso, a cream gelato with a hazelnut crunch through it. If you need a gluten-free cone in Genoa, this is the address to remember.

Flora and Fruit & Ice: a 1935 latteria and a stop by the Cathedral

Flora was founded in 1935 as a latteria and still trades on gelato, which locals rate highly for its ingredients. The range runs beyond scoops to granite, sorbets, frullati, crepes, waffles, yogurt and fruit salads, so it works for a sit-down break as much as a cone.

Fruit & Ice on via San Lorenzo is a few steps from the Cathedral, which makes it the easiest stop to fold into a walk through the centre. Look for the vanilla gelato with raspberry sauce and red-fruit crumble, the pàntera genovese, marron glacé and amaretto flavours, plus gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan options and a wide range of granite, yogurt and centrifughe, the fresh-pressed juices.

Three more for the list: Le Erbe, San Nicola and Nervi

La Cremeria delle Erbe in vico delle Erbe keeps long hours through the evening and is a reference point for the surrounding nightlife crowd, with classic creams and variegati plus chocolate with added pane and truffle variations. Order the panera and the canestrello, the two Genoese recipes, and the giandughiotto if you want a chocolate-hazelnut scoop.

La Gelateria di San Nicola on corso Firenze, at the curve of the San Nicola district, is run by the Turchino brothers and balances classic creams with fruit gelati made from ripe fruit. Cookies, white chocolate and hazelnut cream are the indulgent end of the counter.

Massimiliano Chiumeo in Nervi, on via Oberdan, is the far-eastern stop and experiments with unusual combinations: caramel with Maldon salt, a Zena flavour with basil, pine nuts, buffalo ricotta DOP and prescinsêua, Piedmont hazelnut IGP, and a dark chocolate with 100% Claudio Corallo cocoa mass. The Zena flavour is the one that tastes of the city rather than of a standard gelateria. Nervi is a separate trip along the coast, so put it on a day when you are heading east anyway.

Panera genovese explained

Panera genovese is a coffee semifreddo cream made with fresh cream, sugar and espresso, kept soft and served either in a portion or between two biscuits. It is not a gelato flavour in the usual sense but a prepared dessert, which is why shops that make it well treat it as their signature. Order it before anything else in Genoa, then compare versions across two or three shops.

Two other Genoese names recur: crema di pinoli, a pine nut cream, and canestrello, the biscuit flavour. Both show up at Ciarapica, La Cremeria delle Erbe and elsewhere, and both are worth one scoop each if you are building a tasting. They also make a change from the basil and cheese flavours that get the most attention.

How to tell real artisan gelato at the counter

Artisan gelato is made in the shop in small batches and sold from shallow, covered pans rather than high, airy mounds; the shallow pans keep the gelato colder and less whipped. If a shop lists which farm the milk came from or which cheese producer supplied the gorgonzola, as Viganotti does, that level of sourcing is the clearest signal. Ask for a taste of one flavour before committing, and expect to pay at the till or counter according to the shop's layout.

For savoury-herbal flavours, the basil ranges show the difference between a real herb infusion and a syrup: Gelatina's uses basilico di Pra DOP, and Cremeria Sestri and Chiumeo also work with basil. If you are eating a full meal first, our pesto in Genoa guide covers the other great use of the same basil.

Where to eat your gelato

The caruggi cluster around via Garibaldi and vico Superiore del Ferro is the easiest evening route: Gelatina, Profumo, La Cremeria delle Erbe and Cremeria Buonafede sit within a short walk of each other. Eat on foot in the lanes, since seating is limited and the shops work as counters.

The alternative is the sea: take a cone at Boccadasse from Amedeo, or sit down at Flora or Fruit & Ice for granite and waffles. The outlying shops in Sestri Ponente and Nervi reward a longer trip, and the ones near the Cathedral suit a sightseeing pause. If you want pastry for later, our bakeries in Genoa guide points you to the counters that do both.

Which gelateria should you walk to first?

Start at Viganotti on Salita del Prione for the chocolate and the cheese scoops, then walk to Gelatina and Profumo through the caruggi for the basil and rose flavours. Keep Amedeo for a Boccadasse afternoon and Flora or Fruit & Ice for a longer sit-down stop. Five stops spread over two days is a better plan than ten in one afternoon; for the sit-down side of the same streets, see our guide to the best restaurants in Genoa.