Spring leading into summer can only mean one thing: It’s time for ice-cream! New York has a variety of places where you can enjoy the sweet delight, but few are the spots that evoke  the true scrumptiousness of Italian gelati. Before giving you my top 6 locations, bare in mind that to evaluate the quality of a good gelato you should take a look at the chocolate shade: if it’s beige the ice-cream is sure to be an epic fail, but if it’s dark brown, almost black (especially if the flavor is dark chocolate), it’s a thumbs-up.

Here is myNewYorkeye’s Gelato Hit Parade:

6 POPBAR (5 Carmine Street)

This place doesn’t exactly align with Italian gelato compositions, but it is truly worthy of mention for the exquisite creative innovations to traditional ice-cream: all kinds of gelato come on a stick with additional nuts, chocolate, or other coatings. 

5 GROM (2165 Broadway)

Though I feel this gelato chain founded in 2003 in Turin is often overrated, it actually abides by its motto: “Il gelato come una volta”, i.e. “Ice-cream made the good old fashioned way.” The Torroncino is the real treat, very popular among Upper West Siders. 

4 GELATERIA AT EATALY (200 Fifth Avenue)

Eataly is the place in the City where you can find the exact same flavors of the boot-shaped land! This obviously includes gelato flavors that are extraordinarily creamy, since they are made with local organic milk. 

3 LABORATORIO DEL GELATO (188 Ludlow Street)

If you step in here, you will truly feel like entering a lab: a bunker-like design with a heavenly allure. The fruit flavors are incredibly smooth and, if you want your taste buds to run wild, you can try some more extravagant flavors such as green tea, white sesame, toasted coconut or even beet.

2 L’ARTE DEL GELATO (75 Ninth Avenue)

“The art of ice-cream making” (the literal translation) has branches on Bleecker, the High Line, Chelsea Market, and Lincoln Center. All these locations attest how the gelato craftsmanship has won the hearts of locals and tourists alike, especially thanks to certain flavors such as pistacchio, olive oil and zabaione.

1 AMORINO (60 University Place)

Love is in the name and it truly is the best place for a date. Women love to be homaged with flowers and sweet things so what could be better than an ice-cream cone that reproduces a flower, where every petal is an ice-cream flavor? Oh and trust me, this place passes the chocolate shade test more than any other gelateria in New York!

Buon Appetito!