In Milan gelato is not pudding. It is a walk, taken after dinner, at an hour when the shops in any other city would be dark. Which means the choice of counter decides the route, and the route decides the evening.
Eight counters are worth building a walk around. Two of them hold Tre Coni, the top rating Gambero Rosso gives its gelaterie; three more hold Due Coni, the one below it. None of them is a chain. Several shut on Mondays, and that is the sort of thing you want to know before you cross the city.
Il Massimo del Gelato
Massimo Travani has been making gelato off Corso Sempione since 2001, and the shop reopened on 7 March 2026 to mark twenty-five years of it. Chocolate is the argument here: 10 variants at once, from single-origin bars to one built on wasabi. The Michelin guide lists it. That is unusual for a gelateria. It tells you how seriously the kitchen behind the counter takes itself.
It opens 12:00 to 23:30 and closes on Monday. Plan around that.
LUXOS Recommends: any of the chocolates, taken singly rather than in a scoop of three.
Il Massimo del Gelato, Via Lodovico Castelvetro 18, Milan, Tel. 02 349 4943, ilmassimodelgelato.it
Gelateria della Musica
Fabio Brigliadoro was a musician before he was a gelatiere, and he named the flavours after the musicians rather than the ingredients. It sounds like a gimmick and it is not. Pistachio is the shop’s calling card and he keeps it in at least three variants at once. That is a working laboratory, not a theme.
The one to try is pane, burro e marmellata, made from exactly those three things. It is the flavour that explains the shop.
LUXOS Recommends: pane, burro e marmellata.
Gelateria della Musica, Via G.E. Pestalozzi 4, Milan, Tel. 02 38235911, www.lagelateriadellamusica.it
Latte Neve
Open since 2014 on the Naviglio Grande, Latte Neve holds Due Coni from Gambero Rosso and earns it on dairy rather than on invention. Ricotta di bufala, mascarpone with ginger, coffee with cardamom: the flavours that sound restrained on the board and are not on the spoon.
It is the counter to take someone to when they say they do not really like gelato.
LUXOS Recommends: ricotta di bufala.
Latte Neve, Via Vigevano 27, Milan, Tel. 02 39811258
Gelato Giusto
Vittoria Bartolazzo came to gelato through a Le Cordon Bleu pastry diploma. The range reads like a pastry chef’s: ginger and lime, ricotta with hazelnut. Due Coni, and a small board that turns over with the season.
LUXOS Recommends: ginger and lime.
Gelato Giusto, Via San Gregorio 17, Milan, Tel. 02 29510284, www.gelatogiusto.it
Ciacco
Ciacco’s line is gelato and nothing more, meaning no additives, and the result is a board that tastes of one thing at a time. Almond, pine nut and coffee are the three to judge it on. There is a lactose-free range that is not an afterthought. Due Coni, and a Via Spadari address that puts it a short walk from the Duomo.
LUXOS Recommends: pine nut.
Ciacco, Via Spadari 13, Milan, Tel. 02 39663592, ciaccolab.it
Pavé Gelati & Granite
The reason for the Tre Coni here is that Simona Carmagnola does not make gelato flavours. She makes Milanese puddings and then freezes them. Sbrisolona, tarte tatin, buttered toast with jam. Order the sbrisolona and you get the almond cake, crumb and all.
LUXOS Recommends: sbrisolona.
Pavé Gelati & Granite, Via Cesare Battisti 21, Milan, Tel. 02 94383619, www.pavemilano.com
Paganelli
Ugo Paganelli founded this in 1930 and his grandson Francesco runs it now, with Tre Coni to show for it. The flavour that carries the name is the Principe: Venezuelan chocolate with coffee, star anise and cardamom. It is a lot of ideas for one scoop and it holds. The pistachio comes with chilli pepper, and that one is not for everybody.
LUXOS Recommends: the Principe.
Paganelli, Via Adda 3, Milan, Tel. 02 6702751
Gelateria Sartori
Andrea Sartori started with a two-wheeled cart in 1937 and settled the business on Piazza Luigi di Savoia, behind Milano Centrale, in 1947. The kiosk you queue at has kept its 1963 structure on purpose, and the city made it a Bottega Storica, a recognised historic shop, in 2017.
The board is the classic one and it is better for it: nocciolato, crema, pistachio, fiordilatte, zabaione. There is no window display, so you order blind. Order the zabaione.
LUXOS Recommends: zabaione.
Gelateria Sartori, Piazza Luigi di Savoia, Milan, www.anticagelateriasartori.it
Related: More Luxos restaurant guides for the meal that comes before the walk.
One name from the old version of this list has gone: I Gelati di Nanina, near Porta Genova, can no longer be confirmed to trade, so we have taken it out rather than send you to a shutter. As for the order, walk it north to south. Sartori behind Centrale, Paganelli on Via Adda, Pavé on Via Cesare Battisti, then Ciacco by the Duomo. And check the day: Il Massimo del Gelato closes on Monday, and so do several of the others through the winter.