I've been wondering for a while & can't contain myself any longer - why do posters on this board always refer to "gelato" and "scavi" ? Gelato is just the Italian for ice cream and scavi is just the Italian for excavations. But it is always "where is the best gelato ?" and "will the scavi be open ?", never "where is the best ice cream ?" or "will the excavations be open ?". (I've even seen references to the best "gelato" in the US !) This doesn't seem to happen with other words, e.g. I've never seen "where is the best pesce ?" or "which is the nearest albergo ?" - so why are these two words always in Italian ?

As for gelato, sorry, Caroline, but it's different than what we Americans call ice cream. When someone asks where he/she can find gelato in the USA, he/she is not talking about ice cream.
I'm not 100% sure about the scavi part, but I believe that the word is most often used in reference to an organization named Scavi Tours, that does just than, gives tours. The organization is not called "Excavation Tours."

I think a valid argument can be made that Italian gelato is not the same thing as ice cream in English-speaking countries.

As for Scavi (which is almost always capitalized), it seems to me a handy and inoffensive abbreviation for "the excavations under St. Peter's Basilica."
"Excavations" alone could be anywhere or anything, including excavations for an extension of the Rome Metro.

gelato and ice cream (the American verison at least) are NOT the same product.

I don't get it - why do you say Italian 'gelato' is different from ice cream? It 'may' be better sometimes, but it's still just ice cream.

I think you're overthinking this caroline. Add me to the group that says gelato and ice cream are not interchangeable. We have both ice cream shops and gelato shops on our main street in Naples, Florida and they don't sell the same thing!

Other examples?
Do you object to "gondola ride in Venice" instead of "boat ride"?
How about "how far to the Duomo?"

Oh, Kate, I feel sorry for you if you say "it's still ice cream". Maybe you've never had really good gelato.

There are a number of variations of both, of course, but for starters, most gelato does not contain cream, it usually is made with whole milk. So why is it so rich? More eggs, more dense, the fruit flavors take over easier, and there is less air whipped into it.

I've seen "ice cream" stores in Italy, and they often have this highly whipped concoction that is not far off flavored Cool Whip -- simply disgusting.

No, no, no...gelato is not the same as ice cream! Ice cream I can get anywhere...for the best gelato, in my opinion, you must go to Il Laboratorio del Gelato in Manhattan. So good, I arm my son with a cool bag, pay for the train fare and the dry ice just so he can bring some home from the city. Crazy, yes. Worth it? Oh yea!!!

Caroline, I have secretly been wondering the same thing myself! Perhaps its a British v. US thing.

To my mind, the term "ice cream" covers a wide range of recipes - from Ben n Jerry's to Italian ice cream, cheap "soft-scoop" vanilla to the famous ice cream from Berthillon in Paris (which no-one refers to as "glace", incidentally), and pretty much everything in between.

Just another 2 cents worth here.

Ice cream is made with cream, resulting in a fat content usually between 16% and 30%. Gelato is made with milk or soy milk--fat content 3% to 10%. As pointed out above, almost no air is whipped into gelato. As a result, gelato flavors tend to be very intense, and gelato and ice cream have very different mouth feel.

So they are both frozen dairy desserts, but they are very different from each other. Different enough that it is helpful to use the separate terms "ice cream" and "gelato" for the two products.

I would be disappointed if I ordered ice cream and got gelato; and vice-versa. Sometimes I want one and sometimes the other.

Glace? No, you mean Freedom Cream!!!

Language (and particularly diction) is wacky and internally inconsistent. That applies to virtually every dialect of every language in the world. Is it any wonder that it's even more inconsistent when translated from one language to the next?

Ice cream, gelato, sorbet and sherbet. BOY, the difference is there. My husband doesn't care for ice cream and will enjoy SOME gelato flavors although he is a sherbet and sorbet man. The recipe for gelato and ice cream, the preparation, ingeredients and quite often the person who is making it - different. I like to say that gelato is a cross between ice cream and sorbet. Once you've had the 'good stuff' you'll know
P.S> Some ice creams are crappy and some are amazing....the same to be said of gelato!
Just an opinion!

Furthering what Rufus says (and I agree) if I want vanilla -- you can't beat a really rich good vanilla ice cream. I've never had vanilla gelato and not sure I want to. Those rich berry flavors in gelato can't be done in ice cream to compare.

Pompeii has a Scavi site also, but as noted already, the Scavi shorthand around here is for the site beneath St Peter's.

And gelato and icecream are different desserts, though both are frozen confections. Icecream is not an English word for gelato, and gelato is not Italian for icecream. Gelato is Italian for gelato.

These are not the only words with 'exclusive' use.
Panna cotta is not the same as Jello, thought both contain gelatin. And a
crostata di mele is not the same as an American apple pie, though both contain apples and crusts.

Fish or Pesce on the other hand, is just fish, it's not a recipe.

Thanks Rufus for the facts.
My only remark is taht it's obvious Caroline's never ate true Gelato or she would have never asked.

And to add one last thought: Gelato is cooked, then frozen. Quite a different product. And Scavi is the name of the underground excavations in the Vatican. The actual name. Not just a fancy word we use on the forum to impress people.

People need to relax and become part of the scene when they travel...you know, "..when in Rome.." Travelers who say "..why don't they just call it ice cream," or "this isn't how we do things at home.." always make me say, "..then go back home and let the rest of enjoy our vacation adventures..."

Here is a link to just one gelato recipe for those who think gelato is just "ice cream" and not a cooked custard that is frozen:

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/restaura...emongelato.htm

Enjoy

Patrick, try the vanilla gelato as the third flavour in a cup or cone sometime. It has a richer taste than our vanilla ice cream and brings out the flavours of the others. yum

Rufus, you made my day! I had no idea that gelato has such a lower fat content, now I can happily eat it every day on my trip without guilt!
While I do agree about the difference between ice cream and gelato, the term gelato is the past participle of gelare, to freeze. Therefore it means frozen and really does refer to what we think of as "ice cream." I've been offered gelato in Italy, thought I'd be given a delicious scoop, and instead was handed a prepackaged ice cream sandwich that you find in tubs outside of neighborhood grocery stores.

Hmm, gelato, ice cream. Both can be so good. (Side note: best ice cream I've ever had has been at Chez Panisse across the bay from me in Berkeley. And call me a philistine, but I do like Blue Ice in Rome for gelato.)

Other question: I've never taken any of these tours, but I'll be heading back to Rome in late May. Is the Scavi Tour really that great?