Gelato

Italy is known for its pasta, cheese, cured meats and especially its wine, but what's really good here is the gelato, which is basically a food group of its own.

Gelato is often called ice cream in the states, but it's really not the same. It's made with more milk than cream (the reverse of ice cream), and comes in a massive number of flavors . . . so far I've seen watermelon, lime, tiramisu, rose, and a couple of dozen I can't translate, let alone describe.

The posse has tentatively decided that fragola - strawberry - is the best. Clearly, they're a conservative bunch.

Gelato is usually kept in large trays just this side of frozen, which means you have to eat it fast before it drips all over the place. (You can get it in a cup, but where's the fun in that?) Prices vary - in a small town I've found it as cheap as 80 Euro cents for the small cone; in the cities, the same cone can be 2 or even 2.5. With the dollar bringing only .60 Euros (yow) and even a little less, that's a good hunk of change . . . but worth it, especially when you consider the high nutritional value.