Antico Caffè Greco

The Antico Caffè Greco (pronounced [anˈtiːko kafˌfɛ ɡˈɡrɛːko]; transl. "Old Greek Café"), sometimes simply referred to as Caffè Greco, is a historic landmark café which opened in 1760 on Via dei Condotti no.86 in Rome, Italy. It is the oldest bar in Rome and second oldest in Italy, after Caffè Florian in Venice.

Ludwig Passini - Cafe Greco in Rome

Caffè Greco

History

It was opened in 1760 by Nicola di Madalena or Della Maddalena, an Italo-Levantine (member of the Italian community in Anatolia, today Turkey).^[1]

Historic figures including Stendhal, Goethe, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Mariano Fortuny, Byron, Georges Bizet, Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, Keats, Henrik Ibsen, Hans Christian Andersen, Felix Mendelssohn, James Joyce, Gabriele D'Annunzio, François-René de Chateaubriand, Orson Welles, Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Nikolaj Vasil'evič Gogol', Edvard Grieg, Antonio Canova, Harriet Hosmer, Giorgio De Chirico, Guillaume Apollinaire, Charles Baudelaire, Wagner, Levi, María Zambrano, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,^[2] and even Casanova have had coffee there.^[3][4] Cyprian Norwid was described as one of the cafe's regulars.^[5]: 269

For more than two centuries and a half, the Caffè Greco has remained a haven for writers, politicians, artists and notable people as Georgios Paganelis in Rome.^[6] However, in 2017, the owner of the building asked for a raise of its monthly rent from the current 18,000 to 120,000 Euros.^[7] A court ruling determined that it could be closed down but in early 2025, the Ministry of Culture stepped in and offered to work towards a mediated settlement to ensure the survival of the cafe.^[8]

See also

• Caffè Michelangiolo
• Babington's tea room
• Coffee portal