Gelateria De' Coltelli — Restaurant in Pisa

You know how sometimes you’ll read the one and two star reviews of a place and you’ll find something along the lines of “I don’t know how this place gets such high ratings!”? Well, in the case of Gelateria De’ Coltelli my wife and I can’t figure how this place can get any LOW ratings! 🤔

We’ve been to many of the major regions and cities in Italy, and have tried the gelaterias wherever we go. This is by far one of the best we have ever been to. If all people are used to is gelato with the standard overdose of fat, sugar, and concentrated flavor - and consider that “the best”, then you may not appreciate what you’d taste here. The flavors are sometimes subtle, but they are always natural and (for us) have a lovely balance of being refreshing and creamy.

We’ve been here three times (so far!) and tried 6 of the flavors they have. There’s something unique and wonderful about all of them, but as a caution you shouldn’t necessarily combine any flavor with any other flavor or you might lose the essence of one over the other. You might not want to, for example, mix plum with blueberry (we didn’t, as the nice young lady behind the counter let me try two flavors when I asked which would go better with plum)! 😄 I don’t see this as a negative, as you can get your everyday supersaturated technicolor flavors* at any of a number of other gelaterias in Pisa (which we’ve tried - some rated higher than this place but having the standard assembly line flavors). Go here if you want a more out of the ordinary - and tasty - gelato.

Additionally, at all times we’ve been treated very nicely by three different young ladies for each of visits.

*(Now having said this, my wife and I have also had wonderful, more classic heavier cream and sugar gelatos in Italy and elsewhere. Hey, if they’re good, they’re good. But Gelateria De’ Coltelli does it their way, and their way is very good and a bit...

By far, the best ice cream shop in Pisa and in the surrounding. The ice creams are made using basic ingredients, like milk, cream, nuts, cocoa, rather than pre made powder, which would be the standard in most other ice cream shops (even "artigianale" ones: artigianale means only that the ice cream is assembled in the shop, but pre made powder wisked with milk or water in the shop qualifies for being "artigianale"). Be ready to taste an ice cream where the pistachio is not green and the lemon is not yellow - the real pistachio makes a brownish ice cream and the real lemon a white one. But, the taste of the ice creams here is unforgettable. I prefer the creams to the sorbets, personally, but both are excellent. Do not expect many flavours or huge ice creams, the place values quality over quantity, but the whipped cream is free and also worth trying, on top of whatever one takes (try it...

Went here to hopefully eat some ice cream safely as they are certified celiac safe. They wanted to serve the ice cream from the same tubs as they were serving the regular cones (and did not have gluten free cones) even though they at first said they had other tubs. Then they argued with us saying that they would scrape the top layer with a clean spatula and then serve it to me with the same spatula. When we questioned the safety of that procedure she insisted that she knew what she was doing and that if I didn't want it I shouldn't eat it. All this in a very rude manner. I did not eat the ice cream. From the interaction between both the employees at the shop it was obvious they had other tubs that hadn't been touched and yet she insisted on this method. Would not recommend...