Gluten-Free Padua (Padova): gelato, restaurants and pizza for coeliacs

Padua’s centre is compact, and most of the places on this page sit inside it. Ciokkolatte, an entirely gluten-free gelateria, is on Piazza dei Signori, and Pasticceria Graziati, a historic pastry shop with its own gluten-free range, is on Piazza della Frutta, both in the market squares around the Palazzo della Ragione. Nosh is a few steps away on Via Squarcione; Antico Brolo is on Corso Milano, about 5 minutes further west on foot by our estimate; and the Bottega 33 shop is on Via San Prosdocimo, a short walk west of the cathedral. Al Carmine is on Piazza Petrarca, north of the squares, about 10 minutes away on foot by our estimate. The other three entirely gluten-free places, Gelateria Incanto, GingerGi VeggiePop and Aguaquemada, are outside the old centre, a bus or taxi ride out, and so are Gustoteca on Via Venezia and Lievitarti in the Guizza district. On foot, by our estimate, the station is about 20 minutes from the market squares, the Scrovegni Chapel about 10 minutes from the Palazzo della Ragione, and the Basilica of St Anthony about 15 minutes further south; the tram runs the same line from the station past the sights.

A day that works: book the Scrovegni Chapel before you travel, because it takes no bookings for the same day. Collect your tickets at the Musei Civici Eremitani ticket office at least 30 minutes before your slot, and see the city museums there while you are at it. From the chapel it is about 10 minutes on foot, by our estimate, to Caffè Pedrocchi and Palazzo Bo, and on to the Palazzo della Ragione and the market squares. Lunch at Antico Brolo on Corso Milano, about 5 minutes away on foot: a mixed restaurant whose own page describes a gluten-free kitchen area physically separate from the regular one; tell them you have coeliac disease when you book. Back on Piazza dei Signori, the gelato at Ciokkolatte is entirely gluten-free; ask whether the cones are too, and take a cup if you’re not sure. In the afternoon, walk about 15 minutes south to the Basilica of St Anthony, with the Orto Botanico beside it and Prato della Valle about 10 minutes on. For dinner, take a bus or taxi out to Aguaquemada, an entirely gluten-free Spanish restaurant that specialises in paella: its site says the whole menu is gluten-free and lactose-free, but it doesn’t describe the kitchen, so say the sentence there too. For pizza in the centre instead, Al Carmine on Piazza Petrarca, a mixed pizzeria, has made gluten-free pizza since 2007: ask how it is prepared and baked.

Three places on this page point to the Italian coeliac association, AIC: Gelateria Incanto says it is part of AIC’s AFC network, GingerGi VeggiePop shows the AIC logo on its site, and Al Carmine says it is «affiliati A.I.C.», affiliated with AIC. AIC’s eating-out programme, Alimentazione Fuori Casa (AFC), calls its member places «informati», informed: staff trained on coeliac disease, AIC’s rules for preparing gluten-free food, a signed agreement, and an in-depth visit from AIC at least once a year. In the Veneto, trained volunteer tutors from AIC Veneto do the visits and the regular checks; AIC Veneto has its office here in Padua, at Via Sacro Cuore 21. It is not a certificate, and joining is voluntary; many places in Italy serve gluten-free food outside it. The full list is for AIC members, but as a visitor you can buy short-term access inside the AIC Mobile app, in English too, and on AIC’s map only the places marked with the AFC logos are members. AIC advises booking ahead so the kitchen can get ready. When you book, say you have coeliac disease, and say it again every time you order: «Sono celiaco/a».

The Veneto cooks with rice and polenta as much as with wheat. Risotto and polenta are gluten-free at the base, but ask whether the stock comes from a cube and whether flour went into the sauce. Bigoli, the thick local pasta, and the tramezzini sandwiches at the bar are wheat, and beer is barley unless the label says gluten-free. The covered market under the Palazzo della Ragione sells fresh pasta and fried food alongside the cheese, fruit and vegetables: read every label there, and ask. Plan your meals around the sights, too: the Scrovegni Chapel lets in no food, drink or bags, and the Basilica of St Anthony and Palazzo Bo don’t allow food inside, so eat before you go in and keep a snack for afterwards. For a day in Venice, about half an hour away by train, or in the Euganean Hills, pack snacks from Bottega 33; phone first for the opening hours, as its card says.