Dolcezza Gelato – Washington – D.C. -USA

Gelato is Italy’s version of ice cream. There are several key differences between our gelato and ice cream. First, our gelato has half the fat and half the calories of ice cream, and our sorbetto has no fat, consisting mostly of fruit. Second, our gelato contains much less air than ice cream, making it denser, smoother and giving you more food in your cup. Third, gelato is served at a warmer temperature, allowing you to taste the gelato when you eat it, instead of leaving your palate shocked by the freezing cold ice cream.

We craft our gelato fresh every morning in our Gelato Factory located behind Union Market in an old converted flower warehouse. For all ingredients, we look to our local farmers first, and, if they grow it, we exclusively use their produce during the local season. For any ingredient which does not grow locally, we carefully search to obtain the highest quality product possible. This translates into Strawberries during the Spring, Peaches in the Summer, Quince for the Fall and Sicilian Blood Orange during the Winter. Each year is a little different than the last.

We look for perfection in every batch of gelato we craft the perfect texture, the delicate balance & the exquisite taste. Working with our local farming community makes this search possible and lends much depth to the whole process, as we personally get to know the people who grow our ingredients. We like to keep it simple and let these impeccable ingredients speak for themselves. It’s the way gelato used to be made, and so, it’s the way we choose to make it, as always.

The idea for Dolcezza was birthed in Buenos Aires in the year 2000, that first, warm humid night in South America, under the lights at the popular gelato shop, Freddo. Robb & Violeta had just landed in Buenos Aires, after an epic journey, which began in the Brazilian Amazon and finished 3 months and 4,000 miles later in São Paulo. To say that possibility was ripe is an understatement, the idea came from a moment in time when the engines of synchronicity revved loudly. We opened our doors in Georgetown in July 2004 without having ever made one batch of gelato, we just knew we wanted to create something with our own hands, something we would be proud of and something delicious, and we did.