Film

Love & Gelato

Name: Love & Gelato
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Released: 2022
Cast: Susanna Skaggs, Tobia De Angelis, Owen McDonnell, Valentina Lodovini, Saul Nanni

Coming-of-age romance
Light-hearted

A cheerful Netflix romance about an American teenager following her mother's diary through Rome one summer before college. It's a sun-drenched, low-stakes love story that knows exactly what it is: a pretty postcard of a film, all cobblestones and gelato and young people being charming in fountain-adjacent locations. Perfect if you want to feel good without thinking too hard.

TMDb rating

2.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a light, sun-warmed romance where a sharp, anxious teenager loosens up in Rome and the charm comes from the city and the small comic detours rather than from anything heavy.

Skip it if you find teen romance syrupy or prefer films that stay with hard feelings; this one is sweet, predictable in its beats, and happy to keep its emotional stakes gentle.

What it asks of you: Under two hours, it moves at an easy, unhurried pace, asking for little more than a willingness to drift along with its sunny, sentimental mood.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

To All the Boys I've Loved Before2018

Same warmth and rom-com sincerity: a teenager navigates first love while processing family stuff, with genuine sweetness underneath the cute-meet chaos. The third film wraps it all beautifully.

But If you're exhausted by the formula—girl, letters, boy, misunderstanding, grand gesture—this won't surprise you. It's comfort food, not innovation.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before poster

Emily in Paris2020

Identical DNA: beautiful European city, young American protagonist, romances that bloom while she's supposed to be doing something else, gorgeous location shots that distract from thin plotting. Trashy in the exact same register.

But It's been roundly mocked for superficiality and implausible scenarios. If you think that's a bug rather than a feature, stay away.

A Walk to Remember2002

A dying woman guides her loved one from beyond the grave through a beautiful summer. It has the same bittersweet structure—romance undercut by maternal mortality—and will hit harder if you're sentimental.

But It's a full-on tearjerker with Nicholas Sparks's particular brand of melodrama. Love & Gelato is lighter; this swings heavy.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Love & Gelato

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Call Me by Your Name2017

Both use Italy and summer as more than backdrop—as a transformative space where young people discover who they actually are. But where Love & Gelato is about following a path someone else made, this is about making your own and losing it.

Italian summer, young romance, gorgeous cinematography, food and gardens and sunlight as characters. It has Love & Gelato's sensuality and setting but channels it toward something raw and adult. A masterclass in how to make a place and a moment feel eternal.

But It's a queer love story that doesn't end happily, and it moves at a contemplative pace. If you want the romance to win, this will break your heart on purpose.

Letters to Juliet2010

American woman, Italian setting, treasure hunt through a beautiful landscape, love blooming as a side effect. It's the same movie really, just older and more explicitly about following in someone else's romantic footsteps.

But It's aggressively inoffensive. If you need edge or complexity, this will feel like watching a tourism board advertisement.

The Summer I Turned Pretty2022

Young woman, summer location, family secrets, two boys, self-discovery. The Belly Conklin template works because it actually has stakes beneath the pretty-people-in-summer aesthetic. Better built than Love & Gelato.

But It's a multi-season commitment and the love triangle drags. Love & Gelato respects your time and stays focused.

Mamma Mia!2008

Shamelessly joyful, musically gorgeous, shot on a Greek island that becomes a character itself. It understands that a film can just exist to make you happy, and that's enough.

But The plot is tissue-thin and the acting is beside the point. If you need actual narrative or dramatic tension, this will feel pointless.

Under the Tuscan Sun2003

Older woman, Italian villa, second-act happiness, gorgeous landscape as both setting and metaphor. It has the same sun-soaked romance-of-place energy, just for a different life stage.

But It's a film about acquiring things—property, love, contentment—which some find hollow. The fantasy can feel more important than the character.

Set It Up2018

Two young people, snappy dialogue, a plot that exists mainly as scaffolding for charm. It knows it's a rom-com and commits fully. Lighter and funnier than Love & Gelato, if less sentimental.

But The gender dynamics are dated even for 2018. The whole thing is designed to be forgotten immediately after watching.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things2021

Young couple discovering a magical place together, summer romance, feeling of time standing still. Same tone, different structure—this one's a Groundhog Day loop rather than a diary, but equally weightless and pretty.

But It's forgettable by design. If you're looking for anything to stick with you past the credits, look elsewhere.

The Secret of Kells2009

Both films are about a young person using an older woman's wisdom—here a magical legacy, there a diary—to navigate a beautiful place and themselves. Same emotional structure, completely different execution.

A teenager discovers a beautiful, magical world hidden in her world. Animated, Irish-set, visually ravishing. It has the same sense of following a legacy and finding wonder, but in a completely different medium and register—serious, mythic, genuinely moving.

But It's a children's film, which some adults find slow. The plot is thin and the pacing is deliberate. It requires patience and imagination from the viewer.

Mouchette1967

Both follow a teenage girl through a summer of self-discovery, but Bresson asks: what if the world doesn't reward that discovery? What if summer reveals that you're trapped? The formal beauty is the same; the philosophy is opposite.

A teenage girl in rural France, unhappy circumstances, the world indifferent to her. Shot with the gravity of Bresson, it uses a young woman's summer to explore how little control we actually have. It's Love & Gelato's mirror: beauty without comfort.

But It's bleak, slow, and ends badly. There's no romance, no gelato, no comfort. Watching it is closer to sitting through a Bergman film than a Netflix romance.