Piccolina Gelateria | Collingwood

The Verdict

The Piccolina story is pretty epic. Owner Sandra Foti grew up licking homemade Italian gelato, made by her father, and was lucky enough to inherit some recipes that had been in the family over 100 years.

One day she made a decision: she’d quit her job as a graphic designer, travel to Italy, learn the art of gelato making, then come home and open her own store. Piccolina Gelateria in Hawthorn was the result. And now it’s Collingwood’s turn. Piccolina’s new flagship store has landed on Smith St, and it’s just in time for summer.

It’s not obvious when you’re standing there eating the stuff, but a lot of hard work goes into real, Italian gelato. Every component of Piccolina’s is made from fresh ingredients. The chocolate brownie gelato? Sandra bakes the brownies from scratch. Sheep’s ricotta and fig jam? That’s homemade jam, thanks very much, stewed properly over a hob.

The new store will stock some of the old favourite flavours (the Lemon and Stracciatella need to be tasted to be believed). But keep an eye out for the new ice-cream cakes like The Ferrerolina Rocher: a collab with the legends at Luxebite that combines three types of gelato (hazelnut, milk chocolate and Piccolina’s signature Better Than Nut-ella), hazelnut praline and crunchy puffed rice. Absolutely nuts. Literally.

Smith St already has Messina, obvs, but there’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition right? We’ll take two scoops of the Sicilian Cannoli, please. 

Image credit: Piccolina