Rome · gelato
Palazzo del Freddo Giovanni Fassi
The oldest still-producing gelato house in Rome, and the one with a dated act of resistance on its record: offered a way into the business that became Algida, the family said no and stayed artisanal. It still makes what it sells, in a building it has held since 1928, under the fifth generation.
What to order
The Sampietrino, or the Caterinetta.
What we know
- The family business began in 1880; the Esquilino building it still occupies was bought in 1924 and opened as the Palazzo del Freddo in 1928
- Giovanni Fassi invented the Telegelato in 1927 — gelato packed in dry ice and posted across Italy and abroad
- The family refused a postwar offer to join the operation that became Algida, choosing to stay artisanal at the moment industrial ice cream was being invented around them
- Seven hundred square metres in Esquilino with the production floor visible from the counter
- The overseas outlets in Seoul and Shanghai run on a separate licensing model, kept distinct from what the Rome flagship makes
- Status
- open
- Address
- Via Principe Eugenio 65/67, 00185 Roma
- Maker
- Andrea Fassi, fifth generation
- Opened
- 1880
- Website
- www.gelateriafassi.com/
- Last checked
- 2026-08-21
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