A summer stroll, a hot afternoon in the city, an impromptu stop during a car ride: gelato is the perfect excuse to stop, look around, and indulge. It’s street food and haute cuisine all at once, democratic by definition yet capable of the same gastronomic ambitions as a Michelin-starred restaurant. There’s no day trip, beach vacation, or stroll downtown that doesn’t involve, sooner or later, finding the right gelato shop—one where the line is worth the wait.

Artisanal gelato is the most popular gastronomic product there is. It requires profound technical knowledge and reflects the changing perception of “good” through a mass cultural object, free from socioeconomic barriers. It requires the rigor of the pastry chef and the awareness of the chef, committed to expressing their identity through original recipes—free from the standardized industrial bases that flatten the landscape, and instead born of creativity, personalized textures, and the exaltation of the raw ingredients.

These are the places that chart the direction of Italian artisanal gelato, and because this direction exists, Dissapore observes it and chronicles it every year through a ranking. The criteria are public and shared: only independent establishments are selected and tested, regardless of the number of locations, evaluating the ingredients list, the raw materials used, creativity, research, the menu at the counter, and—of course—the gelato’s sensory profile. All worthy gelato shops not included in this list are included in the regional and city selections, the ranking’s “spin-offs ,” evaluated using the same criteria.

The team of tasters who curated the 2026 edition is composed of Massimo De Marco, Elena Bellusci, Stefania Pompele, Rossella Neri, Caterina Vianello, Luciano Fiordiponti, Fiammetta Parodi, Rossella Neiadin, and Chiara Cavalleris, who is the project’s creator and curator. This year’s ranking is sponsored by Sepal Group.

The Top 10

1. Ciacco (Milan and Parma) — Stefano Guizzetti, aka Ciacco, takes first place with an ice cream crafted with a uniquely personal style: technical rigor and gastronomic curiosity at the service of taste perception, where cold becomes a tool to slowly reveal flavors, at the pace of melting.
2. Magritte (Piacenza and Fidenza) — Gianluca Cavi is a curious and greedy gelato maker, capable of building collaborations with chefs and producers that give rise to conceptual flavors like “Lebanese Breakfast” or the peanut, cocoa, and miso combination. Among the great interpreters of egg, his classic cream is almost an academic lesson.
3. Papalele (Turin) — Emanuele Meinero runs two locations beneath the Mole Antonelliana, distinguishing himself with surprisingly delicious vegan creams and a constant search for wild herbs and fleeting seasonality. Try the White Truffle ice cream whenever you can.
4. Michel (Peschici) — In the heart of the Gargano National Park, Michel Draicchio transforms local Mediterranean vegetation into gelato using sophisticated techniques such as cryogenic infusion, achieving subtle balances between flavor, resins, and bitter notes.
5. Liparoti (Trapani and Erice) — Maurizio Liparoti brings the finest Sicilian fruit to the carapina with an ultra-contemporary approach where sugar gives way to pure flavor, and every ingredient—from the amaretto to the variegations—is made in-house.
6. Next Stop (Milan) — Curzio Baraggi takes care of every detail with almost didactic precision, personally selecting the raw materials (pistachios from Basilicata, seasonal citrus fruits) for creams and sorbets of exemplary purity.
7. Quattrini (Falconara Marittima and Sirolo) — Erika Quattrini runs a fifty-year-old ice cream shop with a refreshing approach, showcasing the Marche region with asparagus, mint, and hydrolates made from fruit and vegetable scraps.
8. Cremeria Capolinea (Reggio Emilia) — Simone De Feo balances a gourmet approach with popular enjoyment, creating an offering that ranges from fine-dining spirits to signature ingredients like Pastor Roberto’s famous ricotta.
9. Pallini (Seregno and Verano Brianza) — Brothers Alberto and Alessandro Pallini focus on passionately selected raw materials ground in-house using a restored old mill, with roasted and salted pistachios among their finest offerings.
10. Al Polo (Parma) — Alex Erioldi brings his culinary training to gelato, creating a gourmet offering with themes borrowed from restaurant pastry shops, from the Royal with goat ricotta and black truffle to seawater-based sorbets.

The complete ranking (11-100)

11. The Ice Cream Tree — Seregno, Monza, and Cogliate
12. Greed — Frascati (RM)
13. Gnome — Milan
14. Taste Workshops — Pignola (PZ)
15. Passera Ice Cream Shop — Florence
16. Criollo — Rome
17. Excellent — Turin
18. Soban — Valencia and Alexandria
19. Saint Musumeci — Randazzo
20. Paolo Brunelli — Senigallia
21. Red Hand — Alba
22. Savà — Santeramo in Colle (BA)
23. Chiara Spalluto — Casalabate (LE)
24. The Rag — Atripalda (AV)
25. De’ Coltelli Ice Cream Shop — Pisa
26. Rosamundi — Rome
27. G&CO Ice Cream Shop — Tricase (LE)
28. Arctic — Milan
29. Siké — Milazzo and Lipari (ME)
30. Gelatin — Genoa
31. True — Milan, Bologna and Verona
32. Supernatural — Bologna
33. Mokambo — Ruvo di Puglia (BA)
34. Woodpecker — Bracciano (RM)
35. Bun da Mat — Santo Stefano Belbo (CN)
36. Zealous — Rome
37. Nivera — Scicli (RG)
38. Ringo’s Dairy — Martina Franca
39. Di Matteo — Torchiara (SA)
40. Mara dei Boschi — Turin
41. StéFrisk — Bari
42. Sweet — Isernia
43. Chocolate — Toscolano Maderno (BS)
44. Pachamama — Chiavari (GE)
45. Stefano Ferrara Formaessenza — Rome
46. MaCam — Novara
47. Mavé — Rome
48. Nughenè — Bogliasco (GE)
49. Gelizioso — Sarno (SA)
50. Pikko — Verona
51. Micama — Avezzano (AQ)
52. Ettore Bar — Locri (RC)
53. The Jubilee — Riccia (CB)
54. 100% Natural — Sestri Levante and Chiavari (GE)
55. Cecconi Creamery — Arezzo
56. Sweet and Savory Bar — Gerace (RC)
57. The Flamingo — Anguillara Sabazia (RM)
58. Rocco Naviglio — Foggia
59. Angelo Napoli — Baronissi (SA)
60. The Vices of Angels — Matera
61. Unika Cremeria — Cream
62. I insist — Savona
63. Nano Labo — Camalò di Povegliano (TV)
64. Buono Così – Natural Ice Cream Shop — Rome
65. Radical Ice Creams — Ancona
66. Gelasius — Rome
67. More — Soverato
68. La Gourmandise — Rome
69. Makì — Fano (PU)
70. The Fenu — Cagliari
71. Cremeria Aurelia — Rome
72. Frozen Ditto — Reggiolo (RE)
73. Crispini Ice Cream Shop — Spoleto and Foligno
74. Farmer’s Ice Cream — Bergamo
75. Air — Turin
76. Caprilli Natural Ice Cream Shop — Livorno
77. Once Upon a Time — Benevento
78. Milk Flower — Gradisca di Isonzo (GO)
79. Lolla Gelato — Bolsena and Viterbo
80. Crivella — Sapri
81. Sablé — Bologna
82. Dassogno Farm — Rogeno (LC)
83. Zeno – Ice Cream and Chocolate — Verona
84. Torcé — Rome
85. Ribera — Brescia
86. Fisotti Ice Cream Shop — Otranto
87. Otaleg! — Rome
88. Longing for — San Benedetto del Tronto (AP)
89. Minù Ice Cream Shop — Osio Sotto (BG)
90. Ice Creams of Yesteryear — Turin
91. Francis — Brescia
92. Lado Lab — Trento
93. Scilò Contemporary Ice Cream Shop — Chieti
94. Timbale — Udine
95. The Ice Cream Shop — Porto Mantovano (MN)
96. Esquimau — Pordenone
97. Defrosting – Peasant Ice Cream Factory — Florence
98. Santo Stefano Creamery — Bologna
99. Juri’s Ice Cream — Pesaro
100. Ambrogino Lactic Cellar — Saronno