It’s easy to romanticize the gelato in Italy, eaten while strolling past the Trevi Fountain in Rome or along the Arno River in Florence. But according to Sandro Paolini, the owner of Pinolo Gelato on SE Division, Italian gelato often isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 

I can also vouch for this after my time studying abroad in Florence and learning to make gelato during my internship in a gelato shop. At many shops in touristy areas, you’ll see heaping piles of mass-produced, nearly neon-colored gelato on display in store windows—and they don’t taste nearly as good as they look.