Here’s the scoop: Cult-loved ice cream brand Gelato Messina to open Adelaide shop in 2023

It has a cult following interstate, and now the ice cream brand started by two South Aussie brothers is finally opening its first Adelaide store in 2023 – find out where.

Gelato Messina offers 40 signature flavours in total, plus rotating specials. Picture: Supplied

We’ve got the scoop: cult ice cream brand Gelato Messina – founded by SA brothers Nick and Danny Palumbo – is finally coming to Adelaide.

The boys will open in the old Alchemy Ironworks on The Parade, Kent Town, in mid-2023.

It comes 20 years after Nick moved to Sydney to open the first Gelato Messina store in 2002. Since then, the company has grown to 16 stores across Australia and Hong Kong – with several more on the way – while jaw-dropping flavour combinations have amassed a whopping 238,000 Instagram followers.

What kind of flavours, you ask? Think, Corn Flake milk gelato with chocolate crackles and milo ganache. Ritz cracker gelato with Ritz cracker crumb. Chocolate crème patisserie gelato with chocolate hazelnut fudge, candied hazelnuts and crushed cannoli shells.

There are 40 signature flavours in total, plus rotating specials, all of which will be available at the Kent Town site along with Messina’s gelato cakes and, they hope, their new range of chocolate.

“We also want to work with local producers from Adelaide to collaborate on special projects and custom creations,” Nick said.

A cup of gelato from Gelato Messina.

Magic Mushrrom gelato cake.

“The site is extra special, as there will also be a restaurant attached at the back which some of our hospitality friends are taking over, so it will be a great place to come for dinner and have a scoop at the Messina store afterwards.

“It’s quite surreal to have left Adelaide so long ago in pursuit of starting my own gelato company. So, to be going full circle and returning to our hometown to open (finally!) is pretty cool. I’m excited.”

Nick and Danny Palumbo have a history in hospitality, and began making gelato while working at the old Cafe Buongiorno in Rundle St.

Since then, they’ve developed a unique recipe for their silky-smooth gelato – never using pre-made bases or mass-produced flavour pastes.

Gelato Messina founders Nick and Danny Palumbo when they were in town for a Gelato Messina pop-up in Rundle Mall in 2019. Picture: Tait Schmaal

Their images of decadently-mounded gelato creations, with quirky names (Hard Nut to Crack; Serial Chillers, etc) draws fans from far and wide.

Nick, who revealed the brand was looking at Adelaide sites back in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic delayed their plans, said “building and repairs” were underway at the Kent Town site.

“It’s a really interesting space with amazing history, which we love as a location for our Adelaide,” he said.

“Maybe we won’t stop at one store for Adelaide.”

Coming soon: Gelato Messina, 44 The Parade, Kent Town, opening mid-2023.