San Crispino: The Patron Saint of Gelato

A few days ago on one of the first Spring Sundays in Rome I paid a visit to oen of my neighborhood gelaterias, "San Crispino". As locals will agree (though a few will try to argue that Fassi or Giolitti are superior), San Crispino is the Gucci of Italian Gelato.

The Mystery of San Crispino
While waiting in the LONG line to get my gelato, I marveled at how secretive this whole operation is. For example, there is no commercial menu, the flavors are written on a dry erase board by the entrance. You cannot actually see the gelato before ordering, as it is contained beneath stainless steel canisters with lids on them. You have to decide what you want, take a leap of faith, and just order it.

When going for a gelato in Rome, it is easy for tourists to choose which gelato to order by simply looking at it, recognizing what flavor it might be, and finding the "prettiest" mound, the one that rises up like a mountain. This, according to the true Maestros of Gelato, is a common mistake. Properly made gelato should not stay put in a mound like that, but rather it should flatten out.  True to this theory is the gelato of San Crispino. As I enjoyed my cup of gelato (In Italy it is customary to mix flavors, so I decided to try meringue gelato with bits of chocolate and also the pistachio, which is made with actual bits of pistachio-no artificial flavors) I got to reading about the history of Italian gelato as we know it, and the story is really quite interesting.

The History of Italian Gelato

San Crispino toys with the idea that perhaps it was Isaac who offered Abraham the first gelato ever, made from goat's milk infused with snow when in the bible he told Isaac to "Eat and drink." If it hadn't been a gelato (or at least a sorbetto), wouldn't he have just said "Drink?"

While no one knows exactly when and where gelato was invented, we do know that in the 16th century, Caterina de Medici, when preparing to leave Italy to marry Enrico,  (duke of Orleans and the future King of France) insisted on bringing not only a team of cooks and pasty chefs, but also the sole individual who she felt capable of putting the French in their place, at least in the kitchen. That man was Ruggeri, an Italian chicken seller and struggling cook who was laughed at by the top chefs of the period until he won a local "cook-off" with his delectable fruit based sorbetto recipe. De Medici ordered her men to seize Ruggeri and load him onto the ship destined for France.

Chicken Man Goes Global
While in France, Caterina tried her best to keep her personal gelataio under close watch. He quickly became the envy of local gelato-making hopefuls and harassed, beaten, and robbed on many occasions until one day, he jotted down his sacred gelato recipe on a piece of paper, sealed it in an envelope addressed to Caterina, and added a short note that read "With your permission I am going back to my chickens! I hope people will finally leave me alone, forget I even existed, and just enjoy my gelato".

Ruggero's gelato recipe then spread like wild fire in all of France and Europe, with new inventions and ingredients paving the way for what we know as Italian gelato today. The man known for making gelato into a true business was Procpio dei Coltelli, a Sicilian who invented the earliest gelato machines, using snow, creams, and fresh fruit to create gelato.

No tour of Rome should be complete without a visit to San Crispino for a truly unforgettable gelato. Come to think of it, no tour of Rome should be complete without SEVERAL visits to San Crispino. Don't ask me what the connection is between the actual St. Crispino and gelato, because I cannot seem to put my finger on it. What I do know is that as far I am concerned, he is now the Patron Saint of Gelato and I have A LOT of worshipping to do.