Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Vivoli Il Gelato - Disney Springs

Earlier today, my daughters and I stopped at Vivoli Il Gelato, a new addition to The Landing at Downtown Disney, which is soon to be known as Disney Springs.  


Vivoli Gelateria is a famous gelato shop in Florence, and their new storefront in Downtown Disney is their first outside of Italy.  

The gelato at Downtown Disney will be made with the same recipes used in Florence, and ingredients like cocoa powder, pistachios, and hazelnuts will be imported from Italy.  


We arrived at the shop at 10 a.m. when they opened, and I was told that all of their flavors of gelato are gluten free.  Many are dairy free too, which you can read about on my friend Amanda's blog The Gluten & Dairy-Free Review Blog


Even though the gelato is gluten free, there is a risk of cross contamination, because they do serve ice cream cones in the store.  Because it was early, the two young gentlemen working the counter were willing to let me sample flavors from new containers they had in freezers behind the counter, and they scooped my gelato from fresh containers with clean scoops.  I did get the impression that if they are busy, this might not be an option, so I suggest going when they open, when there are fewer customers around.  


I tried pistachio and riso, a rice pudding gelato, before deciding on a medium cup of stracciatella (chocolate chip) and bacio (chocolate hazelnut).   


I loved the bacio with its big chunks of hazelnut, and the stracciatella is better than any chocolate chip ice cream you will find in the United States.  Eating the gelato at Vivoli Il Gelato brought back memories of our trip to Italy, where we ate gelato twice a day, it was so good.  Emma ordered both banana and chocolate gelato, while Katie decided to just stick with one flavor, the stracciatella.  We all loved the gelato at Vivoli Il Gelato, and hope to bring my husband back soon.  


October 15, 2015 Update

My daughter Katie had gelato for dessert at Vivoli Il Gelato after we ate dinner at Morimoto Asia on Sunday.  She chose the riso (sweet rice) and amarena (brandied cherry), two flavors my husband and daughter tried and loved a few weeks ago.  I double checked to make sure that all flavors of gelato and sorbet are still gluten free, which they are, but I would not eat them unless they are scooped from a fresh container.  There is too big of a risk of cross contamination with the gelatos and sorbets on display, because of the ice cream cones they serve.  


April 12, 2016 Update

Earlier today, I had a medium cup of violet and banana gelato.  On their own, they were both good, but I loved the combination of the two flavors.  The violet definitely has a floral note, and the banana had an intense banana flavor, so they balanced each other out quite well.  All of their flavors today were gluten free, and they were willing to scoop my gelato from fresh containers.  

Vivoli Il Gelato does offer discounts for Tables in Wonderland, which I was told is the best discount, and for annual passholders and Disney Vacation Club members.  

What are your favorite flavors of gelato at Vivoli Il Gelato?  


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