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🍨 Gelato as an Individual

As an overview, Gelato's MBTI is likely ENTP (the Debater), leaning toward Extravertedness, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving. The way he conducts himself evolves when he meets Sorbet, but his ENTP and psychopathic personality traits generally remain consistent. Gelato leaning toward extravertedness is based on his interest in people, being the one talking to people, and handling on-site assassination. Alongside that, if we follow the themes of ironic karma (another example in Sorbet's section about his death), Gelato dying from suffocation and whose body was the vessel to send the message of "castigo/punizione," I would think that implies Gelato to be at least some kind of talker/extravert, such as a communicator or informant.

Personality

Both Sorbet and Gelato were described as heinous criminals who were bold/crazy enough to look into the Boss' identity. Most of Gelato's personality in the manga (released 1995-1999) had to be deduced by his death. The deductions of the Hitman Team regarding what happened and Gelato's actions solidify how deep the relationship between Gelato and Sorbet was, as they speculated that Gelato's fear and utter despair from watching his partner's torture and slow death prompted him to kill himself.

More characterization is given to Gelato in the anime (released 2018-2019) based on what the other members of the Hitman Team say, implying him to be the wild card between him and Sorbet. So, it probably could've been assumed that skipping meetings and looking into the boss was Gelato's idea (before the short story, because it reveals a different answer). Illuso also mentions the two of them being "crazy bastards."

The general personality (that I have seen at least, again, correct me if I'm wrong /gen) of Gelato that the fans have guessed isn't too different from the one shown in Prima che il Gelato si Sciolga (2025). He comes off as social, outgoing, playful, and teasing, all while having some kind of craziness driving his actions. In the short story, he does exhibit these traits but much more nuance is added to his character.

Limited Spectrum of Emotions

While Gelato still comes off as charming and playful in his short story, it seems quite clear that he exhibits signs of psychopathy/being on the ASPD spectrum: impaired empathy, limited spectrum of emotions, lack of remorse (no guilt whatsoever about his murders), lack of fear (no signs of distress about going against the Boss), lack of stress (no signs of distress after a close-death encounter), bold/daring behavior, and an inclination toward violence. He is described and shown to be cold, logical, meticulous, and ruthless, which is masked by superficial charisma. Of course, a lot of these traits don't apply toward Sorbet. And since Gelato's hobby of murder likely started at a very young age, I would guess that he was born with this neurodivergent condition (following the idea that psychopaths are usually "born" while sociopaths are usually "made").

Short disclaimer: Psychopathy/Sociopathy/Anti-Social Personality Disorder is still not very well understood by psychology experts (In reality, there is a very small percentage of people diagnosed with ASPD, and most cases wouldn't be considered 100% psychopathic). The traits I listed out for Gelato are associated with psychopathy, but also keep in mind that psychopaths/potential psychopaths can experience it differently from other psychopaths (ie. Kira Yoshikage, Patrick Bateman, etc/Though, he seems quite similar to Hannibal Lecter's habits and behaviors).

Starting from Gelato's history as a serial thrill killer for 20 years with over 20 victims, I would guess that he was seeking out something to fill the void in his humanity to make up for his reduced ability to feel emotions. Incorporating the "thrill" part of "thrill killer," I would also guess that his aim was to chase the adrenaline high of killing someone. This is probably why Gelato claims that his entire life's purpose is to kill, much like how he claims to rather be dead if he was unable to eat dolce.

While he is said to have killed all kinds of people no matter the age or gender, his pattern of murder begins with an interest in someone. From that interest, he collects a comprehensive databank of that person.

The way he knows a disturbing amount of detail about his target comes off as obsessive, but once he kills his target, he loses all interest in them.

Pretty similar to Dead by Daylight's Ghost Face, but to a more cold and less narcissistic degree.

I would imagine that this is Gelato's way of feeling closer to being human, especially since his hobby is "people-watching." Because of his unique skill in building his intelligence network and observing people, he's able to construct a charismatic mask depending on his situational needs to get away with whatever he wants. Along with his cold and meticulous nature, Gelato was able to get away with all of his kills by thoroughly clearing himself of any evidence, even if the police suspected him.

To expand on his logical and meticulous nature, he's completely fine with killing people but worries about driving without a license, which was joked about by Sorbet. I would guess that this is because Gelato knows he can get away with murder, having full control over cleaning up evidence and completing the deed. However, driving without a license has too many variables that Gelato can't control, likely the reason why he deems it too risky from a logical standpoint.

Because he typically doesn't feel fear or stress (as he shows no signs of distress in destructive environments nor after near-death encounters), he's able to logically analyze and accept situations and the emotions of other people, such as his read on Alice's love, the Hitman Team's low pay, and the Boss' unspoken warning to him and Sorbet. Ironically, Gelato seems to be more thoughtful and intuitive about people's motives and emotions than Sorbet, who is more emotional than Gelato.

Ever since Gelato met Sorbet, he seems to have begun to feel a wider range of emotions he hasn't quite experienced before, a spark of change in what his usual life used to be. As opposed to his life as a thrill killer who indulged in his idle interests in people, Gelato is content to live a modest life with Sorbet, especially since he is able to kill at his leisure and for money. For the first time in his life likely, he feels a reactive emotion when it comes to Sorbet, an example being a "cold anger" at the thought of his life with Sorbet being distrupted by the Boss. It's only the realization that the Boss aims to eventually get rid of the Hitman Team (whether it's by dismantling them or killing them) that Gelato begins considering rebellion in the back of his mind.

After all, for someone who has an emotional deficiency, it makes sense for Gelato to cling onto the things that make him feel anything (sweets, murder, and Sorbet).

Love for Dolce and Murder

Gelato indulges in the high that comes from adrenaline (murder) and dopamine (sugar) to fill the inherent void he seems to possess since birth (reduced emotional spectrum resulting in potentially anhedonic and/or depressive symptoms).

Dolce, specifically Italian sweets and pastries, is one of the few things that seems to make Gelato genuinely happy, and he is shown to be eating a variety of dolce throughout the short story. And to further emphasize the importance of dolce to Gelato, nearly three paragraphs are dedicated to Gelato eating Cassata Siciliana and even being described as sensual to him.

However, this happiness, similar to his urge to kill, is linked to his own will to live.

While some might think that he's "just exaggerating," I would argue that he means this literally. Firstly, it's something he's saying to himself in his head without anyone else around (also giving us more perspective about how casual/common thoughts of suicide are for him). And second, his will to live for sweets is paralleled with his will to live for Sorbet. And we already know he kills himself after Sorbet dies.

It's in this way that Gelato's love for dolce is representative of his love for Sorbet (not to mention that sorbet is made with a fuckton of plain sugar syrup and sugar from fruit). Like sweets and murder, Sorbet himself acts as Gelato's mood stabilizer, allowing Gelato to feel a wider range of emotions that he normally wouldn't be able to feel on his own.

Now, about Gelato eating salame di cioccolata in his short story: First of all, it's Cioccolata (normally it would be called salame di cioccolato), the one who cut up Sorbet in front of Gelato in the anime. Secondly, the cross-section of salame di cioccolata looks eerily similar to Sorbet's cross-sections (particularly noticeable in the manga art).

Speculative side note: I could also see Gelato probably having a thing for cannibalism (or at the very least biting), when we combine his expression of love and interest via murder and eating. This is also further visualized with him eating salame di cioccolata. The careful and calculated way he approaches murder is pretty similar to Hannibal as well.

Gelato's affinity for murder could potentially be linked to his attraction (likely varies from platonic, familial, romantic, or sexual considering that he had a very wide range of victims), perhaps similar to the way he could experience a sensual feeling for dolce. For Sorbet, it is much more than romantic, both of them considering themselves to be one body and soul.

Maritozzo and Casa Blanca Lilies

The main symbolism of Gelato's feelings for Sorbet is maritozzo, an Italian dolce which is a bun filled with cream. Gelato's paralleling NPC Alice's symbolism of her feelings for the Boss is a bouquet of Casa Blanca lilies, which was then compared to a maritozzo as it had a "hidden gift" inside (it was hiding a bomb).

Symbolically, Gelato's "hidden gift" in his maritozzo to Sorbet was his own skills in their trade of assassination, while Alice's "hidden gift" in her Casa Blanca lilies was her very life (which ends up being the same thing that Gelato offers to Sorbet in a way when they decide to go after the Boss). In this way, it connects to the way that Sorbet loves Gelato, who admires the latter for his skill in assassination (described more in Sorbet's own section previous to this one).

Both of their gifts can be boiled down to the essence of pure devotion for "someone who changed their life." After all, the custom of gifting someone maritozzo was about offering an engagement ring (or jewel), a symbol of commitment and desire to be one body and mind ("the union between two people" in marriage). And according to the short story, Casa Blanca lilies can represent purity, blessing, and sweet beauty, but they can also mean betrayal (which was a clue to the Boss' hidden message). Additionally from my personal research, Casa Blanca lilies are typically used in celebrations such as weddings.

Because Gelato feels the same way for Sorbet as what Alice feels for the Boss, he was able to understand her emotions very well, especially since she was willing and did kill herself. Even after witnessing the Boss' message via Alice (the result of her and Liberio being dead as a way for the Boss to show Gelato and Sorbet their future if they become traitors), Gelato still chooses to join Sorbet's rebellion. But similarly like Alice's bomb that kills Liberio (Sorbet's paralleling NPC), Gelato enabling Sorbet leads to the latter's own death and vice versa.

To call back to Sorbet's analysis in which I mention Chainsaw Man's City Mouse or Country Mouse question, I believe Gelato would be the country mouse who chose to follow the city mouse.

History and Abilities

Thrill Killer

Before joining Passione, Gelato was as a hobbyist killer who had over 20 victims over the course of 20 years, regardless of age or gender. During this time, Gelato always evaded jail time/punishment because he was always able to keep himself clean of evidence, probably implying that he spent a good amount of his life learning how to get away with kills. He's also shown to be a convincing actor when he's handling on-site assassination, which were probably transferred from evading jail time.

It's unclear of when his killing streak began, but if we take into account that he could've been born with an empathy deficiency, I could see him starting pretty young (teens to early-20s rather than young childhood due to skill issue). He would need to have the knowledge and ability to actually pull off his kills as well as be able to stalk and collect information to his obsessive degree. I would guess his age to be between mid-30s to late-40s (should I reconsider Sorbet's age range? yeah I'm making some edits).

Passione

After his 20 year killing streak, Gelato joined Passione and was assigned to the Hitman Team where he met Sorbet (again, sometime around 1995-1998 based on Risotto becoming capo and Gelato's death). The two would immediately hit it off within a month and, from then on, always take missions together and eventually move in together.

In the short story, Gelato mentions that he has an intelligence network, able to list out details information about relevent persons. However, since he was unable to confirm Alice's allegiance to the Boss until the moment of her death, I would think that Alice might've connected with the Boss recently and/or in secret. Even so, he has an incredibly computer-like memory that seems to catalogue the smallest details of the people he has investigated (pretty similar to Melone, his Stand Babyface literally being a computer as well).

It was also confirmed that both Sorbet and Gelato had Stands (as many of us had assumed), but Gelato prudently chose to avoid using them in public. As established hitmen of a prestigious gang, at least one of them had to be capable of being entrusted with assassination. For Gelato, he was forced to instinctively use his Stand for self-defense, confirming that his Stand would've had to be capable of saving him from a point-blank explosion that killed seemingly everyone present in the trattoria, leaving him alone unscathed. But again, his Stand was unable to defend against Cioccolata's and Secco's ambush in his home with Sorbet.

Headcanons and Theories

Upbringing

I could see Gelato having a very abnormal childhood because of his psychopathic condition (could either be born with it and/or traumatized into it), which was likely neglected since it seems like he was able to fully indulge in his murderous interests.

I'm inclined to believe that he lived on the fringes of society, lacking any sense of morality and societal expectations. After all, he had twisted views about what the law should and shouldn't allow, being very casual about murder. Because of this, I'd imagine that Gelato was likely more free about his views on relationships and sexuality (both in orientation and literal/general sexuality), hinted at by his open-mindedness about Alice's and Liberio's relationship.

Not to mention, he seemed to have mostly used murder as a medium for his interests in people, perhaps experiencing it akin to his version of any kind of relationship.

If we take into account the dominant culture of homophobia, he seems remarkably open about his attraction to Sorbet, being the one to talk about driving dates with Sorbet as well as thinking in his mind his affections for Sorbet. In other words, his upbringing may have been quite opposite to what Sorbet's might've been, representing something like freedom (and perhaps ironically, expression) to Sorbet.

Similar to Giorno, I would think that lots of observation is how Gelato learned how to present a superficially charismatic facade. He would probably view this as studying "normal people" behavior so that he can fit in and get away with his murders better (both a social and legal survival mechanism).

And following up on the concept of survival, perhaps ironically, Gelato may have a more realistic view of the world than Sorbet if he truly did live off of the dangerous and wild environment of the slums, knowing what he needs to do to survive despite not having a significant will to live. This kind of "empty" unbringing could further hint to why he could've been content with living off of the Boss' scraps if it wasn't for Sorbet.

Psychology

Aside from likely being born with an inclination toward psychopathy/ASPD (I feel like I've talked about this extensively now), it seems very apparent to me that Gelato also displays depressive traits and/or signs of anhedonia. I believe that Gelato's obsession for sweets (and murder) is a dopamine-chasing behavior (compulsively seeking and craving pleasure), a response to the reduced ability to experience pleasure (anhedonia) that may intersect with his generally reduced emotional spectrum from ASPD. This may also be an observed overlap in some real life cases since psychopathy can result in the affected person feeling empty.

Aside from anhedonia, I think the only other depressive-related trait we see in Gelato is his casual approach to suicide, clearly intersecting with the psychopathic trait of emotional flatness.

This is mostly loose speculation, but at least compared to Sorbet (described to have sharp and piercing features), Gelato's appearance seems to be relatively youthful despite his decades of experience in murder. In the short story, he's also described as "alluring" and having "lustrous blond hair." Neoteny (the retention of youthful traits in adults such as brain plasticity and physical features) is sometimes associated with autism, considering that autistic people have more neurons than neurotypical people, increased brain plasticity being associated with physiological immaturity. Along with Gelato's youthful appearance in his 30s or 40s, he also is shown to be incredibly sharp and intelligent, along with a remarkable memory (remember his intelligence network and the way he can spill very detailed information about a given person). Additionally, the way he seems to obsessively gather information about his victims can come off as a special interest.

So yeah, I would think that Gelato inherited varying levels of both autism and psychopathy.

Disclaimer: Neotenous features are not a reliable way to diagnose autism sldkfjg From what I can tell, it depends on the individual and on a whole slew of other factors.

Misc.

As a person on the ASPD spectrum, Gelato likely experiences romance and sexuality very differently from most people (as seens in his murder habits). While he does give me the impression of someone who is romantically and sexually open, it likely only means something when he's with Sorbet. I'd imagine that Gelato typically sees romance and sex as another way to study "normal people." He gives me the vibe of that kind of freak who kisses with their eyes open or hardly changes his expression when he's having sex with someone.

Of course, this isn't to say that it's impossible for him to emote or enjoy passion, it probably just depends on who he's with and what he's feeling.

It's possible that Gelato is demisexual/demiromantic (or being somewhere on the aspec), his expression of love being knowledge and witnessing one's death.

I still think Gelato has a very mischievous streak, often seeing how much he can get away with by pushing people's buttons and observing their reactions. An example of this was actually seen in the short story in which Gelato purposely didn't pick up his phone when Sorbet was worriedly calling him after the trattoria exploded.