Went out of my way to go to Vivoli in Florence and sampled a couple of other places.

When gelato was introduced in the US a couple of decades ago, much was made about how more rich it was, because the domestic ice cream had all these bubbles.

In fact, they sold very thick ice cream, perhaps overfrozen, because you had to scrape little bits of it at a time and you couldn't eat it off a cone.

The stuff in Italy appears to have the same consistency as American ice cream however. Perhaps when they introduced it in the US, the distributors tried to overemphasize the richness by over-freezing it?

Well, a lot of ice cream places in the US focus on the percent of butterfat (14% is my preference, as any more becomes a bit too much for me), while I am under the impression (and this could be totally wrong) that authentic gelato focuses more on the making process (limiting bubbles) and the ingredients used. I dated a Milanese guy who made the best best best "forestberry" gelato (his translation), and it was all about the fruit.

He also made an awesome hazelnut cream. I wonder if I still have his number. . .

You BROKE UP with and Italian guy who makes GELATO ?!?!?!!

Nurse! Anti-psychotics, stat!

Ah, worktowander. . . my sentiments exactly. What can I say? I was young, I was stupid, I got brain freeze from the "forestberries" and it was all downhill from there. But, Marco, if you are out there. . . grazie per tutti. . . I mean, frutti!

Some of the best gelato I ever had was in Barcelona so you can forget the Italian (I hope he wasn't still living at home with Mom...).

If you go to a site called worldoficecream dot com, their explanation is:

"Gelato and some premium ice creams are so dense that they require a slightly higher serving temperature, a perfect point where your scoop is firm but not hard....." (evidently, your store in the US had the temperature too low) "and not so soft that it melts immediately."

As to the difference between the two, " Gelato recipes usually include more egg yolks, more milk and less cream." (Personally, I've always felt gelato was closer to sherbet than ice cream - which is certainly true as far as fat content is concerned.)

"Gelato actually has less fat than regular ice cream, but gelato's low overrun [i.e, amount of air added] makes for an extremely dense, rich and creamy treat."

Before anyone gets too excited over the low fat content of gelato, I regret to remind those people that eating enough of it will ensure plenty of calories from sugar - which calories one's own body will happily convert into fat, sans sufficient exercise.