If your Instagram feed is currently a sun-drenched montage of your friends coastside, gelato in hand, breezy linens blowing in the winds — and you’re just trying to keep your shoulders from sticking to a TTC seat — allow us to introduce you to a slice of Sicily here in Toronto.
Gelateria Dolce Mia, the city’s newest best kept secret located at 36 Howard Park Avenue, might just be the best consolation prize Toronto has ever offered. Recently opened at the end of April, this summer hot spot already feels like one of those family-run secrets you stumble upon in Italy.
Lucia Giannone who runs Dolce Mia alongside her mother-in-law, father-in-law and husband are bringing a lifetime of Sicilian food tradition to Toronto’s west end.
“Me, Enza, Salvatore and Michele,” Lucia says when asked who’s behind the magic. Enza and Salvatore are both pastry chefs who ran their own shop for over 30 years in the province of Siracusa, Sicily, before bringing their expertise to Canada.
Together they’re recreating the flavours of Giannone’s hometown — specifically Pachino, just 2 km from the beautiful seaside — and doing it with an ease that’s impossible to fake. Giannone landed in Toronto six years ago by way of love.
“Enza she’s born in Toronto. But she went back to Italy when she was a kid. She made a family there, ran a store there, and later on came here. When I came here just to visit the city I found love,” she laughs. “So the love brought me here.”
Toronto should be grateful. Because inside Dolce Mia, the yellow walls glow with the colour of the hot Sicilian sun, accents of blue for the sparkling Sicilian sea and a glass case brimming with cannoli waiting to be piped.
The patio is small but perfectly suited for pretending the concrete sidewalks of Toronto are actually some sun-bleached piazza. Even Giannone herself feels pulled straight from an Italian daydream, greeting you with a warm accent and a look that says, “You absolutely need to sit, relax, and have something sweet.”
Paired with the to-die for sweets, Giannone and her team offer coffee, espresso, hot and ice and for the beautiful summer nights, they have show-stopping gelato.
While it may be known as a gelateria, the savoury side of the shop more than holds its own. Think: proper veal and chicken cutlet sandwiches, rotating pasta and pizza specials and a strong nod to afternoon aperitivo culture, right here on the streets of Toronto. But what really makes Giannone light up? The cannoli.
“My favorite? Mmm, cannoli. And with the chocolate, it’s my preferred.” Take your pick of vanilla, chocolate, ricotta, or even pistachio,” she says.
If you really want to go full Italian-nonna-on-holiday, order one of their gelato cakes: sponge cake layers filled with two flavours of house-made gelato, topped with whipped cream, and personalized with your party message.
What’s most remarkable isn’t the menu — though it could easily hold its own in Sicily — it’s the mood. Dolce Mia feels refreshingly leisurely.
“It’s not just the food—it’s the whole experience,” says Giannone. “The slow afternoons, the people-watching… you grab a coffee, maybe a gelato. It’s a feeling.”
And on Sundays, that experience gets even dreamier. Every weekend, Dolce Mia serves fresh granita in rotating flavours — lemon, almond, coffee, pistachio — accompanied by a soft Sicilian brioche col tuppo, just like at the famous Bam Bar in Taormina.
So if your summer plans don’t include island hopping off the coast of Italy, here’s a tiny hack: Swap your passport for your presto, hop on the streetcar and park yourself on Howard Park Avenue. In the summer sun let Giannone bring you an espresso and a cannoli with extra chocolate chips, and do your best to lose track of time.
