Today, we’re featuring Rita’s Italian Ice, located in the Target Plaza on Lawndale. We discovered it on a trip to Philadelphia last summer and, on hot summer days, enjoy a visit to Rita’s. We love the melon and natural fruit flavors, watermelon, canteloupe, lemon. Unfortunately, the natural fruit flavors are a lot more labor intensive as REAL fruit needs to be used; additionally, they are not as popular in the American market. Therefore, they tend to be the flavors that get discontinued. Here is a little history about Italian ice that we found on Rita’s website.

Italian ice can be traced back to Ancient Greece and Rome, where people would infuse snow from Mt. Etna with syrup and wine. Water ice has been popular in Europe since the 1700’s. In the USA, Rita’s began in 1984, the brainchild of a Philadelphia firefighter whose wife was named Rita!* Rita’s is now a franchise, which is why we have one right here in Greensboro. Stop by and try one that has real fruit in it! We’re sharing this with Weekend Reflections, where everyone has reflections in their photos. Happy S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y!

*reference.