IJssalon Tofani

The Nieuwmarkt's summer-only Italian corner, scooping on this canal since 1942.

Brothers Michele and Antonio Tofani left the Tuscan village of Benabbio in 1920 to sell plaster saints, discovered Amsterdammers preferred ice cream to religion, and opened their first salon in 1939. The Kloveniersburgwal branch followed in 1942 and never moved. Since 2003 it belongs to Riccardo and Daniele Politi, also from Benabbio, who apprenticed under the Tofani family before taking over, which is about as orderly as successions get in this business. The rhythm is strictly Italian: open roughly April to October, then the shutters come down and everyone goes home for winter. In season you get proper gelato, real espresso, cannoli and a canal-side terrace where half the Nieuwmarkt kills its afternoons. The mojito and pistachio scoops are the ones people cross the bridge for. A daytime and evening counter with terrace, not a dinner address, and in January not an address at all.

Order the caffè shakerato with a scoop on a hot day, and note the season: they close for winter entirely, so check before crossing town from November to March.

Photo: Amsterdam Walks