Lo Gnomo Gelato

What we know

• Andrea Bistaffa took over the shop, named by his father, in 2005 together with Francesca Acquaviva; for five years it continued using semi-finished gelato mixes like its predecessor, with neither financial nor personal satisfaction (Identita Golose)
• Around 2010 the team abandoned semi-finished mixes entirely, switching to eggs, milk and cream from a named Lodigiano dairy (Fattoria Baronchelli), Madagascar bourbon vanilla, Valrhona chocolate, amarene candied specifically for the shop, and coffee from a named Milan roaster (Torrefazione Vercelli); the only remaining semi-finished ingredients are Bronte pistachio paste and Piedmont hazelnut paste (Identita Golose)
• States explicitly that it uses no preservatives, antioxidants, hydrogenated fats, colourings, mono- or di-glycerides, palm oil, concentrates, surrogates or chemical essences - only guar and carob-seed flour and sunflower lecithin as stabilisers (Identita Golose)
• One of six gelaterie in the comune of Milano awarded Gambero Rosso's Tre Coni in the 2024 guide, and separately named Italy's Best Chocolate Gelato in an earlier year (Gambero Rosso International; Dissapore)
• Underground laboratory ('laboratorio sotterraneo') sources raw materials from across Italy; broken waffle cones are folded into the batch freezer with nuts and reused as swirl-in variegatures rather than discarded (Il Giorno; Dissapore)
• Milk sourced 'filiera corta' - short supply chain - direct from a named farm (Dissapore)