Slurp Gelato Artigianel

Gelato and a terrace over the water in Monterosso

Gelato is the whole proposition at Slurp Gelato Artigianel: artisanal, made in house, and scooped over a counter close to the Monterosso al Mare seafront. There is no wider menu to negotiate and no reason to want one.

The terrace is the other half of the appeal: seating with a view over the sea, which turns a two-minute purchase into a longer stop and makes the difference between eating a cone on the move and actually sitting down in Cinque Terre.

Cakes as well as cones

Alongside the scooped gelato, the counter makes gelato cakes, which is the thing to know about if you are feeding a group or bringing something to a table elsewhere. It is also the clearest sign that the gelato is made rather than bought in, since a shop working from delivered tubs does not usually build cakes out of them.

How to order

Order at the counter, take whatever looks best that day, and carry it out to the terrace. Flavours turn over, so the list is whatever has been churned rather than a fixed set, and asking what is freshest is a better strategy than arriving with a plan.

The setting is casual and beachside, which is exactly what a stop between the Cinque Terre villages should be: quick to reach, easy to leave, and better than it needs to be for a town this heavily walked through.