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Gelato Messina has scooped up fans across Australia since it launched in Sydney in 2002. But the east-coast gelateria really started in Adelaide – where its founder Nick Palumbo was born. Over the years, it spread interstate (and to Hong Kong) with outlets in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and, eventually, Palumbo’s home town.

Messina’s first South Australian outpost is situated in the Alchemy Ironworks site – a sentimental location for Palumbo, who, as a kid, regularly passed it on his way to the city.

The terrazzo-speckled site has a 40-flavour cabinet, featuring 35 signature flavours and five rotating ones. Alongside the gelato (and sorbet), there’s a selection of gelato cakes and jars of house-made dulce de leche and choc-hazelnut spread to take home.

All the ingredients – including the brownies, the pralines, the pastries and apple pie – are made by chefs at Messina HQ in Sydney’s inner west. The gelato is then churned fresh at Kent Town, using high-fat milk produced from jersey cows at the brand’s dairy farm in country Victoria.

The shop’s interior follows the same mid-century aesthetic seen at Messina’s stores around the country, this time designed by Adelaide-born Sans-Arc Studio and featuring timber panelling, terrazzo-speckled flooring and bench seating, and textured white walls inside and out.

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Updated: January 30th, 2024

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