Verace, Authentic Italian Gelateria, Offers Valentine's Day Special

LIVERMORE, CA — This Valentine’s Day, not everyone is feeling the love. It’s cold, it’s rainy, and bad news is everywhere. But there may be a respite: a trip to Italy to taste high-quality gelato for 10% off.

Verace Gelato and Cafe is a new gelateria in downtown Livermore owned and operated by Naples natives Cristian Santoro and Raquel Montella. Their mission is simple: to bring their native Italy to Livermore, in both food and atmosphere.

“If you’ve ever gone into a café in Italy, we’re really trying to mimic that,” Raquel told Patch. “We’re trying to bring that authenticity to Livermore. So if you’re walking in Livermore, and you’re walking into our shop, you’re literally walking into a shop in Italy.”

Cristian’s family owns a gelateria in Naples, and when he moved to Livermore for his work, they noticed the lack of quality gelato options. There was plenty of ice cream, but that’s different.

“In general, most of the products that you can buy at the grocery store or at an ice cream parlor, they’re industrial,” said Giuseppe Montella, Raquel’s husband who helps manage the shop. “We have a family in Italy who makes gelato, so we had this idea of bringing some of the artisano real deal to the community, especially for the kids. There’s a lot of artificial coloring, a lot of artificial flavor, ultra processed food, a lot of sugar.”

Instead, they offer Italian gelato, which is different from ice cream, using only high-quality ingredients from Italy. It uses less fat, more milk, less cream, and it’s a little bit warmer, which brings out the taste more.

“The milk is Italian, the cream is Italian, we do very diligent work in sourcing top-notch quality. We use hazelnuts from Giffoni, we use pistachios from Sicily, we use almonds from the Tiggiano region in Puglia,” Giuseppe said. “We’re proud of the product that we have, and we put a lot of time into getting the best product we can.”

Though plenty of people stop by in the winter, gelato is still a seasonal business. In the winter, guests can still enjoy a full coffee menu, made by Santoro, an expert barista. They also offer a range of Italian pastries and paninis, and operate a small Italian market that offers specialty items like authentic tomato sauces, pastas, and cans of tuna. They also just got a license to sell wine, and sell some specialty brands at their market.

All the food, products, and workers are Italian, and it shows. “Italian gelato chefs come into our shop, and they know that this gelato is Italian,” Raquel said. “They come to us and they say, we’re honored to taste this gelato. It’s a great feeling, because they know the sweat and love we put into the shop.”

Verace is located at 174 South K Street in Livermore. It is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 7 a.m to 8 p.m. Visit veracegelato.com to learn more or order online.