Palermo · gelato
Gelateria Al Cassaro
Al Cassaro is the clearest ingredient-transparency case among the Palermo candidates — a maker naming, on the record, exactly which additives she refuses to use and why — paired with an independent critic's judgment that her granita and brioche read as closer to Messina's more worked style than to Palermo's own, a real point of contrast with Ilardo two entries above.
What to order
Gelsi neri (black mulberry) granita, called 'irrinunciabile' by Dissapore's 2019 critic
What we know
- Founded in 2013 on the site of her grandfather's clothing shop, at the corner of corso Vittorio Emanuele and via Roma, before the area was pedestrianised (Balarm, 2018)
- No colourants, no 'pastafrutta,' and no chemical stabilisers; carob flour or pea flour used as a natural, vegan-friendly thickener — stated directly by the maker to explain why her watermelon gelato looks paler than competitors' (Balarm, 2018)
- Fruit bought fresh at Ballarò market by the maker herself (Balarm, 2018)
- Ten or so granita flavours alongside roughly thirty gelato flavours, plus gluten-free and vegan accommodations
- Black mulberry (gelsi neri) granita named 'irrinunciabile' (a must) by an independent critic, alongside almond, mango and chocolate; texture and brioche compared favourably to Messina's granita tradition (Dissapore, 2019)
- Created the official flavour for the Manifesta 12 biennale ('Scaccio,' a hazelnut-almond-walnut mix) and distributed 200 rainbow ice pops at Palermo Pride 2016, on the record as her own initiatives (Balarm, 2018)
- Status
- open
- Address
- Via Vittorio Emanuele 214, Palermo (corner with corso Vittorio Emanuele and via Roma)
- Maker
- Gloria Ciprì, owner and maker, a former nightlife bartender who took over her grandfather's former clothing-shop premises in 2013
- Opened
- 2013
- Last checked
- 2026-08-21
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