Italian has lots of great words that, to the non-native speaker, sound a bit like onomatopoeia. As an example I think of the word, “Boh”—which I’m not even sure is an actual word— but it means “I don’t know”. And then here in Rome there are the ubiquitous dialect exclamations like “Ammazza!” (wow) or “Daje!” (“die-ee!” or come on!). Other words are just fun to say. Like grattachecca. That’s a word particular to Rome and one that is handy to know come this time of the year. Gratta-kecka. 

It’s super-hot outside, and if I were at home on the Cape then I might be asking my dad to blend me up a frappe. Or if I were in Siracusa, I would be heading to a specific spot to score the world’s best summertime breakfast: a granita and brioche. With summers so hot, a great part of me is grateful for any mode of summer escape. Here in Rome, the way of the locals (as it has been for a very long time) is to seek out a grattacheccha. 

Grattacheccha is, quite simply, finely shaven ice drizzled with sugary flavorings. If you were in Hawaii then it would be better known as “shave Ice”. Before living in Hawaii, I better knew it as a kid as something that came out of the Snoopy Snowcone Machine.  These days I recognize it as a grattacheccha, and you can find this customizable treat only in central Rome in what are very convenient intersections along the main river.

 I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I have been driving the Lungotevere (the road that rings along the Tiber River) for a few summers now and I have never tried one. This is mostly because I have to devote my steely concentration to navigating the circus-like traffic symphony going on around me; I manage to cast only a glancing eye on the landmarks dotting the road. But many times I have passed this one green kiosk that I always took for a newsagent. I’ve recorded the name across the top as something referring to perhaps jewelry because written it says, “Alla Fonte d’Oro”. At the gold source. But I never had time to look at it more closely, and on most days it is shut up tight. Just something else in my peripheral that I made a mental note of before moving on. 

I often talk about the human experience of seeing something through new eyes, even if your brain had already marked it as ‘discovered’ a thousand times before. It’s one of the aspects of living that keep us going: the unpromised possibility that on any given day, suddenly you will look at something differently. And it just might make you smile.

And so it goes that it was not until a local personally brought me to this gold source that I realized that the unassuming green kiosk was neither a jeweler nor a newsagent. Instead, it was a purveyor of grattachecca. I could see this now on foot, as the word was written in gold on the west face of the kiosk. It’s a simple operation, open at midday and on through to the early hours of the morning in the heat of the summer. Serving customer after customer long before I ever rolled into Rome and imagined I was learning things.

On the June afternoon we visited, it was not yet scorching hot outside but the line was still indicative that this was a thing that was to be done. Away from the more heavily-visited streets of Trastevere, trying one of these is even listed as one of the 100 things one must do in Rome at least once. And even if chopped up ice and syrup doesn’t sound like it’s your thing, knowing that this place has been handing out cups of shaved ice since 1913 makes you feel like you’re a part of something more integral than just visiting the Colosseum. Or driving a rented Maserati down the Spanish Steps (note: don’t do that). 

Back to the ice. There are so many flavor choices that it can be hard to pick (somehow, picking a gelato order is much easier). I ultimately went for one of the more traditional combinations in a grattachecca: a mix of black cherry as well as lemon syrup. They threw in some slices of coconut as well as famous amarena cherries for good measure. Once you are handed your cup,  customers are able to plop yourself down along the Lungotevere by snagging one of the plastic seats. The view indeed faces the river, but more likely you watch the traffic as it passes in front of you. 

I don’t know enough about the grattachecca to determine which is the best kiosk in Rome (honestly there are not many).  All I can say is that in the heat, there is no easier stop for refreshment. Some kiosks still make it the traditional way, shaving back and forth on an ice block in order to create a cup that is ready for whatever flavoring you desire, but our kiosk had evolved to skip the shaving action and instead have a shaved supply at the ready.  

And of course, because this is Rome, there were motorists who opted to simply drive off the road and park onto the sidewalk in order to make a quick grattachecca stop. While cars can in theory park on one side of the road along the Lungotevere (I call these people “crazy”), there is no place to stop and park if you want to stop. But whether it by design or La Divina Provvidenza, the sidewalk near the kiosk is extra wide. Just begging for cars to drive on up and make it their own for ten minutes. While this sort of behavior is in truth kind of maddening in Rome (more often when a car just flat out blocks traffic), for us this made for additional people watching opportunities. You really saw how this is a Roman thing to be doing.

It is still super-hot outside and I will be honest in saying that more recently I went to a Sicilian shop and really enjoyed an almond and fig granita. Or maybe even a slice of cocomero easily had from other stands on the side of the road in Rome. If there’s an Ice Off between Rome and Sicily, I’m afraid that I am on Team Granita. But the beauty between both of these is that Italy has options for cooling off. Summer in Italy is best enjoyed outside of Rome…but if you can’t get there from here, then you can indeed get to one of these modest kiosks and enjoy a true sip of Roman life.