Peru
Lima
Lucuma, chirimoya, and the deepest pantry on earth. Does the best larder make the best ice cream?
Lima's ice-cream culture runs on two tracks that meet at one fruit. D'Onofrio, founded when Pedro D'Onofrio di Resta arrived from Italy in 1887, industrialised and popularised lúcuma ice cream nationally and worldwide, and its 'lúcuma de palo' style is still the reference every artisanal maker defines itself against. Around that industrial spine, a family tradition (Heladería Speciale, four generations since 1942) and a new generation of founder-led gelaterias (Blu, Crem de la Crem, Anacapri, Raggelato) have built a genuinely fast-growing specialist scene: daily production without additives, visible or open-kitchen preparation as a transparency signal, and a deliberate use of fresh 'lúcuma de seda' pulp and other native fruit (chirimoya, maracumango, aguaymanto) rather than paste. Perú's national press was tracking double-digit sales growth in artisanal ice cream and expansion plans into Cusco, Arequipa and beyond as of early 2026. Per-capita consumption is still low by regional standards, which makes the intensity of the current gelatería boom, and the specific argument over what counts as real lúcuma, the most interesting open question in the city.
Last checked 2026-08-21
The selected spots
4 selected
- 01
Blu: Il Gelato del Barrio
gelato · Laura Lucangeli and Nicolas Palma, co-founders; Lucangeli is gerenta general
Blu is a founder-led specialist that states and practices a same-day, no-additive production discipline, uses fresh Peruvian fruit rather than paste, and has made its production process visible to customers as a stated transparency choice, all confirmed on the record by its own general manager in two separate national outlets.
- 02
Anacapri Gelatería Artigianale
gelato · Siblings Melissa, Chiara and Renzo Martorell; Renzo is gerente general, Melissa trained with gelato masters in Italy
A family gelatería explicitly built on Italian training and imported technique, combined with same-day fruit handling and a documented, named production process, corroborated across two separate national outlets nine months apart.
- 03
La Fiorentina Gelatería
gelato · Carlos Casassa, founder, with his wife Zaida Ortega
An 87-year-old founder's personally realised, decades-deferred dream, still hand-run with his wife, producing an unusually large and specifically Peruvian-savoury flavour range from its own plant — one of the more distinctive origin stories found in this run.
- 04
Cafeladería 4D
helado · Ana María Bugosen, maestra heladera and gerente general
A long-running, publicly recognised heladería led by a named specialist, but the deeper sourcing on Bugosen's technique and the brand's Lima flagship address could not be opened this run (Peru21's coverage was Cloudflare-blocked).
Research notes
City boundary
The Provincia de Lima.