The rum 'n' raisin gelato at Piccolina Gelateria is owner Sandra Foti's father's recipe.

So are the passionfruit and the strawberry recipes. In fact, he's provided the inspiration for many of the flavours on the menu.

After all, it was growing up eating her Italian father's freshly churned, all-natural gelato that inspired Foti to open the first Piccolina Gelateria in Hawthorn in 2016.

She opened her second store in Collingwood in 2017, and, two weeks ago, opened a third in Acland Street, St Kilda.

"I learnt how to make gelato with Dad," she says, "but turning it into a business is totally different to churning it at home."

She's spent a total of four years in Italy learning with a mentor, and is "constantly improving [her] skills to make the product better".

Everything is made in-house from natural ingredients, without industrial premixes or pastes.

"Our whole philosophy is to produce really classic flavours and do them really well," she says.

The menu – including a range of gelato cakes – is the same as at Hawthorn and Collingwood.

But while pistachio is the Piccolina Gelateria signature, Foti predicts the sorbets, granitas and anything "fresh and fruity" will be the St Kilda hits.

"St Kilda has that beachside vibe, and you know that feeling of getting off the beach and just wanting something really refreshing?"

With its terrazzo floors, marble benchtop and green-and-cream facade, the store shares a resemblance with its Hecker Guthrie-designed siblings.

And at half the size of Collingwood, it lives up to its name (piccolina means "tiny" in Italian).

"We're going to have a huge summer, I think."

Open Daily noon-late

137C Acland Street, St Kilda, piccolinagelateria.com.au