Our Story
We’ve flown around the world to taste, source, and bring you the planet’s best ingredients.
Our sweet story begins in a black-and-white film. The director is Federico Fellini and we’re in La Dolce Vita 1960s Rome. Now imagine if stepping into a Roman gelateria could transport you back to that Sweet Life. We’ve got good news for you: it can! This is the vibe that aROMA gelaterias are all about.
A 1952 Vespa Faro Basso swoops down a narrow Roman street, perhaps with the Pantheon looming in the background. It pulls up in front of a gelateria that has the city’s best gelato—or so both locals and guidebooks claim. For Romans, the term gelato requires no explanation. For tourists? It’s a different story. It’s like ice cream, but richer, creamier, more subtle, more elegant. And this isn’t any old gelato. It’s gelato artigianale, made in small batches, much of it by hand, using only the finest ingredients. All the focus is on quality.
This ingredients-first approach is evident from the tree outside the gelateria. It’s a beautiful Sicilian lemon tree, the very lemons of which appear in one of the gelatos you can order inside. The waft of sun kissed lemon rind mists into the air, making your visit to the gelateria feel like a dream sequence. And that’s before you step inside.
Open the door and you’re struck by the smell of freshly baked ice cream cones. That’s a reassuring sign that this gelateria is everything you’ve heard and more—most would just buy industrial cones and leave it at that. Not this one. The radio plays “Sott’er Celo De Roma” song by Dean Martin, his silky voice guiding you toward the display of more than 30 flavours of sweet naughtiness — but not really so naughty, since this gelato uses top ingredients and as little sugar as is needed to give you the maximum luxury flavour experience.
But what to choose? Your mind spins. Bronte pistachio? Mascarpone with dates and walnuts? Maybe a refreshing sorbet on such a hot day? Your guidebook said that the lemon with basil is excellent, and a very local looking gentleman outside was eating just that while reading a copy of the newspaper, Il Messaggero. Your reverie is gently stirred by the very friendly young woman behind the counter, who notes that, if you’re having trouble deciding, you’re welcome to taste any and all of the flavours before you make your decision.
She glides open a round-topped container to reveal the pearlescent gelato within. It’s a sorbet that releases a blast of the perfumed scent of fresh fruit. You realise that what the guidebooks said is true. This is a “gelato experience.” Multi-sensory, an immersion, a time warp, an event.
And it’s immediately clear that your decision just got tougher than you’d thought it would be. Well, no matter, you’ll just have to come by more often to try every flavour in turn, before settling in on a regular favourite.
The research was long and in-depth. They sought the best raw materials that the planet could offer and began to develop their products. The first taste testers were the most brutally honest and toughest to please: their young daughters, Karolina and Nastasia. Thankfully, the entire family felt that every aspect of the aROMA gelato experience was of the highest possible quality. Today, aROMA is a brand certified by the Coppa Del Mondo Della Gelateria institution. So you can rest assured that if an international board of gelato specialists—and the founders’ two children—have given it the seal approval, then it must be good.
They returned from idyllic Rome, but their thoughts lingered behind, wishing only to remain in that little gelateria. That gelato experience was so distinctive that the event manager who, for the past two decades, had ensured that every guest left his client’s events with a smile, and the economist, who swapped the real estate business for that most important role of a mother, could not stop thinking about how lovely it would be to share this experience of theirs with others. Thus was born the idea of the aROMA gelato experience.
Branding can be just as important as the product, and so the overall image of the aROMA gelato experience was created. This attention to detail was rewarded with a prestigious Red Dot Award for Communication Design, as well as for Architectural Design for our sales boutiques, mobile sales units and their various, well-thought-out elements, which together provide a special warmth that can only be associated with aROMA.
