Italian ice—more novel than Norwegian ice and more delicious than Italian rain—combines nature's sweetest bounty (fruit) with science's greatest achievement (solid-phase water). Celebrate this achievement with today's Groupon: for $5, you get $10 worth of frozen treats at Rita's. The frozen treat season just launched on March 1 at the Fells Point location.

Rita's signature Italian ice is smoother than a snow cone and served fresh after a grueling 36 hours of mixing, a process that only the fittest ice survives. The creative menu also includes the gamut of other frosty mouth-pleasers. Gobble the frozen custard in flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, coffee, and orange cream. You can also get a Gelati (a layered parfait of custard and ice), a Misto (Italian ice and frozen custard blended together), a Blendini (a Misto with your choice of crunchy mix-ins such as Oreo and Nilla wafers), and other confectious combinations. Prices (with tax) start at $1.65 for a kid's ice, $2.25 for a regular ice, and $3.15 for a regular Gelati. Toppings are available for $0.70 extra and sprinkles (also known as "fun pellets") for an additional $0.45. View a full list and description of the Fells Point Rita's offerings here.

The candy-cane-striped ordering window acts as a green light, signaling in treat traffic from a mile away. Rita's routinely rotates its flavors so—as with your ex-brother-in-law—visits are always a surprise, but standard ice flavors include mango, cherry, passion fruit, island fusion, pink lemonade, the creamier mint chocolate chip, coconut cream, and a plethora of others, including sugar-free versions. Play ice-cream fairy and surprise a terrified group of children with a frozen treat, or prevent yourself from saying too much on a blind date by silencing yourself with frosty spoons of frozen custard. Rita's is open daily from noon to 9 p.m., when it sinks back underground, where the time zone is different and mole children are just getting out of school.

Reviews

Metromix reveres Rita's:

• Rita's always has a lot of interesting frozen concoctions on its menu, from custards to blended ice deliciousness, but you can't go wrong with the classic gelati, in this case vanilla-chocolate-twist soft serve sandwiching cherry Italian ice. Chocolate + vanilla + cherry = Icy yumminess.

Four Yelpers give Rita's 4.5 stars, and Parents Connect reviewers rate it a flawless five:

• Their frozen italian ices are delicious on a hot day, the place always looks very clean, and their staff are extremely friendly. – Pascal P., Yelp
• I got mango with chocolate custard. The vanilla custard was also great. – Maria M., Yelp