Husband and wife Robb Duncan and Violetta Edelman were on a whirlwind tour of South America in the year 2000 when they were struck with inspiration while enjoying gelato at a famous shop in Buenos Aires. In July of 2004 they opened a gelato shop of their own in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood, and since then it’s become a local institution, serving daily-made gelato & expertly crafted coffee drinks in 8 shops and several downtown farmers’ markets.
The Dolcezza team produces small batches of hand-made gelato every morning in their expansive Gelato Factory & Coffee Lab in the Union Market neighborhood, using the best available ingredients: local fruits, herbs, nuts, cheese, milk and cream. Most ingredients are grown by local farmers. They squeeze the citrus one by one, melt the chocolate, infuse the herbs, grind the nuts and roast the spices, all with their own hands, every step of the way.