To be clear, Katherine and I made a few joking references to this comment throughout our trip in Rome:
[9/17/16 1:15:57 PM] Friend: if you don’t go to Gelateria del Teatro I’ll consider it a personal insult
On our last night in Rome, we had been unsuccessful in getting there and did really want to try it before we left; to the point where we actually moved our dinner up by 30 minutes from 9:30 to 9pm so that we would guarantee making the midnight closing time.
We managed to successfully arrive at 11:30pm where the place was clearly closed and left us demoralized. Somehow the guy inside was waiting for his girlfriend. We basically begged for gelato in whatever mediocre Italian (but mostly English) we could muster He explained the place is only open until midnight during the summer, which was technically over.
He let us in the store to take this sad picture, note the lack of gelato, and his annoyingly happy face.
All he gave us were the options of some pops which weren’t put away and we went with the chocolate wine, and the banana rosemary – which we would later find out was a mis-translation and was actually banana raspberry – we probably could have figured that out with our eyes had we not been so flustered. Fail on getting anything herb related.
At this point I start looking to see if there are other locations (which there are) but all of them are listed at a midnight closing as well. We had zero chance getting there before midnight if we walked, and probably a 10 % chance if somehow we could find a cab but figured these places also likely closed at 11 now anyway so it wasn’t worth the effort. We gave up.
It is worth noting that we had this ugly looking gelato (egg nog, with a shot of whiskey poured on top) which tastes way better than it looks at a mediocre restaurant in Rome. It was by far the best thing we ate there.
Additionally, we had this gelato in Cinque Terre which was simply incredible. Basil gelato finished with olive oil and a crostini:
That is how the story was supposed to end, but as we walked along the river home we passed another Gelateria del Teatro where the doors were open….
A miracle oasis, but we (read: I) were still extremely skeptical.
Turns out it was somehow still open.
We got in and got the following;
Pineapple Mint
Rosemary Honey and Lemon
Garden Sage and Raspberry
Lavender and White Peach
All were incredible. We thanked our friend for a great recommendation, and the universe for aligning in such a way that got us both delicious gelato, and a great story.