Melbourne · gelato
Pidapipó
The clearest embodiment of Melbourne's 'imported technique, made local' story: a founder formally trained in Italy who built a Melbourne flagship around small daily batches, named Australian honey and cheese, and a visible on-site chocolate and gelato production line rather than a fixed menu.
What to order
Nutella swirl (Wikipedia, citing press coverage, describes it as one of the store's most popular products)
What we know
- Founder Lisa Valmorbida trained at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna before returning to open a pop-up in Carlton in 2013, which became the Lygon Street flagship (pidapipo.com; Wikipedia, citing multiple press sources)
- Gelato is churned fresh daily in-store; the Carlton store 'sticks to serving gelato, which is made daily on-site' (Wikipedia, sourced to press coverage)
- Some flavours are made with named Australian cheeses and honeys; rooftop honey at the Fitzroy Laboratorio is cultivated by urban beekeeper Nic Dowse of Honey Fingers (Broadsheet, Pidapipo Laboratorio listing)
- Chocolate is tempered on-site at Fitzroy using single-origin cacao from the Dominican Republic, with sugar and fat content tuned to work in both gelato and chocolate (Broadsheet; SMH/Age Good Food, 25 Nov 2022)
- The Fitzroy Laboratorio offers only eight limited-edition flavours that rotate weekly, daily or hourly depending on batch size, with successful flavours later rolled out to other stores (Broadsheet, Pidapipo Laboratorio listing)
- Status
- open
- Address
- Brunswick Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065 (Laboratorio flagship; also trades in Carlton, Windsor and the CBD)
- Maker
- Lisa Valmorbida, founder, trained at Carpigiani Gelato University, Bologna
- Opened
- 2013
- Website
- pidapipo.com/
- Last checked
- 2026-08-21
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