The Royal Victoria Hotel in Pisa includes a tenth-century tower, which was built by the Università dei Vinajoli as its headquarters and as an inn. When Pisa was conquered by Florence in the fifteenth century, it became the “Locanda della Vittoria”.
No restaurant in Italy is more open than the Zeffirino in Genoa, where you can take a seat at any time from noon to midnight, any day of the year, and be served immediately!
In the 1920s, the Caffè Paszkowski in Florence was the first large establishment to present a café-concert with an all- female orchestra, a very rare thing at the time, as we see in a period photograph.
It is the Barbetta Restaurant in New York: the husband of the owner, Laura Maioglio – a second-generation descendant of the founder – is the German-born scientist Günter Blobel, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1999 and donated the prize money to the city of Dresden to help rebuild the Frauenkirche and the synagogue, which were destroyed during the Second World War.
The ice cream cone was introduced by Caffè Fiorio in Turin in the 1930s. It was heavily criticized and considered highly inappropriate for ladies and young women who “licked” it on the street, but it immediately became all the rage!
In the cellar of the Ristorante Casa Perbellini – 12 Apostoli in Verona, with its Roman and medieval archaeological finds, there is a collection of almost 200 pens of journalists, writers, artists and famous personalities who have won the almost 40 editions of the Premio 12 Apostoli award: they include Fellini, Callas, Sciascia, Pound, Guareschi, Soldati, Montanelli and Walesa.
Since 1803, with seven generations of family ownership, the same family has been at the helm of the historic Gran Caffè Renzelli.
The Crotto dei Platani in Brienno, on Lake Como, was built around age-old crotti, natural cavities that open up in the mountain, from the depths of which blows a constant stream of cold air, called the Sorèl, which has been used for centuries to preserve food and drinks.
Al Royal Victoria Hotel di Pisa, il facchino Primo Lucidi – immortalato in una foto con il proprietario Andrea Piegaja e il trasvolatore oceanico Charles Lindbergh.
An endless success story since the early twentieth century, they have become delicious ambassadors of western Liguria throughout the world: Baci di Alassio of the Caffè Pasticceria Balzola.
The intricately carved wooden bar counter in the Sala Verde of the Gran Caffè Renzelli dates from the late 19th / early 20th century and is in the Art Nouveau (Liberty) style.
The rite of the aperitif was invented in the early twentieth century at the Caffè Camparino in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.
Since 2000, Pasticceria Gemmi Il Loggiato in Sarzana, in the province of La Spezia, has been hosting an international competition for young opera singers. With big-name sponsors including the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the City of Sarzana, it discovers and promotes artists under the age of 35.
The Hotel Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo in Venice and the RIstorante Oste Scuro Finsterwirt in Bressanone, both dating from the 13th century, the Locanda del Cerriglio in Naples, dating from 1288, the Parkhotel Luna Mondshein in Bolzano, dating from 1320, and the Antica Locanda Mincio in Valeggio sul Mincio, dating from 1407, are Italy’s longest-standing historic establishments.
The Casa Perbellini – 12 Apostoli Restaurant in Verona is home to the award of the same name. Launched in 1968, the prize is assigned to a book written by a journalist-writer.
Caffè Nazionale in Aosta has a splendid circular Gothic hall, the last remnant of the fourteenth-century convent of San Francesco.
Two of the great names in Andria were loyal friends of the family at the Confetteria Mucci Giovanni, coming personally to buy their confectionery and, especially, the traditional carnival delights: Count Onofrio Iannuzzi, senator from the first to fifth legislature of the Republic under Prime Minister De Gasperi, one of the fathers of the Italian Republic, and Cardinal Corrado Ursi, Archbishop of Naples.
the Caffè Pasticceria Balzola in Alassio, Caffè dei Costanti in Arezzo, Caffè Centrale in Asolo, Grapperia Nardini in Bassano, the Grand Hotel in Gardone, Hotel Bristol Palace in Genoa; Ristorante A Santa Lucia, Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan; the Grand Hotel & La Pace in Montecatini Terme, the Gran Caffè Gambrinus in Naples, Royal Victoria Hotel in Pisa, Ristorante Corona in San Sebastiano Curone, Caffè Grande Italia in Sirmione, Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromées in Stresa; Caffè Lavena, Hotel Londra in Venice; Ristorante Casa Perbellini – 12 Apostoli in Verona.
In 1820, at the Caffè dell’Ussero in Pisa, the oldest documented episode of Italian student pranks took place, as described by Ersilio Michel in *Maestri e scolari dell’Università di Pisa nel Risorgimento nazionale* (Sansoni, 1949). A certain Ricci, a student from Livorno, climbed onto a small table and read aloud a witty satire in sestinas that mocked the more well-mannered and moderate students: he imagined them forming their own monarchical government, with the King granting them court positions and establishing the Knightly Order of the Donkeys. The next day, Ricci was given two hours to leave Pisa, having been suspended from the university.
They are undoubtedly Goethe, who stayed at countless historic establishments during his “Italian Journey”; D’Annunzio, who—whether with or without Eleonora Duse—left broken hearts and unpaid bills everywhere he went; and Ernest Hemingway, a regular at countless historic bars, including the one at the legendary Hotel de La Poste in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Caffè Lavena in Venice, located beneath the Old Procuratie in St. Mark’s Square, is literally flooded every time high water hits.
The Gran Caffè Gambrinus in Naples: the family that runs it fought for nearly 30 years to regain the portion of the café that, in 1938, was converted into a bank after a high-ranking Fascist official asked the prefect to close it because the noise coming from the café—which was located beneath his home—disturbed his wife’s bridge game. With a touch of satire, Alberto Savinio, De Chirico’s brother, wrote in the weekly magazine *Omnibus* that “the air of Naples is fatal to fine cafés, just as roses are poisonous to donkeys,” and the regime ordered the publication to be shut down as well. In 2001, the two parts of the Gambrinus were reunited, thus bringing together those splendid rooms that serve as an art gallery housing over 40 paintings by the greatest names in 19th-century Neapolitan painting.
Caffè Gilli in Florence, where Prezzolini used to meet with the editors of the literary magazine “La Voce” between 1908 and 1916; Caffè Mangini in Genoa, which, after World War II, served as a makeshift newsroom for the daily newspapers *Il Secolo XIX* and *Il Lavoro*, with legendary editors such as Cavassa and Pertini.
In the 1930s, the Ambrosiana-Internazionale team—featuring Castellazzi, Alemandi, De Manzano, Meazza, Faccio, Levratto, Bitto, Agosteo, Cerasoli, Frione, and Serantoni—was a regular at the Antico Ristorante Boeucc in Milan.
A journey through fascinating facts for film history enthusiasts, presented in the order in which they were discovered. Some of the earliest outdoor film shots were shot at the Excelsior Palace Hotel in Rapallo for the film *Battesimo di nave* (1914), starring and directed by Gian Paolo Rosmino, a historic figure in Italian cinema. At the Caffè Ristorante La Loggia in Florence, in the summer of 1916, Arnoldo Ginna set the scene of the elderly gentleman being accosted by young Futurists (to symbolize the contrast between the traditionalist world and the dynamism of the new culture) in the now-untraceable film “Vita futurista,” conceived, among others, by the father of Futurism, Marinetti, and the painter Balla…
Sandri di Perugia is the last historic pastry shop still run by the descendants of the more than 100 Swiss pastry chefs who, in the 1800s, came to Italy in search of fortune and opened workshops and shops that have become “legends” in the art of pastry-making.
The Bellevue Syrene, Excelsior Vittoria, Imperial Tramontano, and Royal hotels in Sorrento, with breathtaking views of the Gulf of Naples.
The Grand Hotel Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, in the province of Como, where photojournalist Fedele Toscani (Oliviero’s father), in 1933, through shrewd and patient stakeouts, managed to photograph the idyll between Bessie Wallis Warfield—better known as Wallis Simpson—and Edward VIII, who would soon abdicate the throne of England in order to marry her.
It is the Caffè Paszkowski in Florence (pronounced “Pascovschi”), nicknamed “pazzoschi” by the Florentines because of the somewhat eccentric characters who frequented it in the early 20th century.
The Antica Locanda Mincio, in Valeggio sul Mincio, in the province of Verona, where Napoleon stayed in 1796 after driving the Austrians across the river.
The Bar del Tasso in Bergamo served as a recruitment point for the many young people who joined Garibaldi for the Expedition of the Thousand; the Antica Focacceria S. Francesco in Palermo was the first “food stop” for Garibaldi and the Thousand after they landed in Marsala.
In un muro dell’Hotel Cocumella, di S. Agnello di Sorrento, la leggenda racconta che l’ultima amante di Shelley, Claire Jane Clairmont, nascose una teca che conteneva il cuore del poeta, avuto in dono da Byron, che lo strappò dal corpo dell’amico affogato a Lerici.
Caffè Florian in Venice, Caffè Greco in Rome, and Caffè Cova in Milan: armed with international patents, they are increasingly trying to protect themselves.
Since 1867, Caffè Camparino in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan has recorded a total of 87 instances of broken windows caused by political demonstrators who were rampaging under the arcades of Piazza del Duomo and in the Galleria.
Caffè Pedrocchi in Padua, a veritable monumental complex, and Caffè Meletti in Ascoli Piceno, an elegant little building on Piazza del Popolo.
Caffè Mulassano and Caffè al Bicerin, both in Turin, are the smallest historic cafés in the world.
Rome’s Antico Caffè Greco, with over 300 works on display in its galleries, is the largest private art gallery open to the public in the world.
The Albergo Italia at the Great St. Bernard Pass is the highest historic hotel in Italy: sixteen beautiful suites at an elevation of 2,474 meters.
Barbetta Restaurant, which is 100 years old, is the oldest Italian restaurant abroad and the oldest restaurant in New York still run by the same family.
The Hotel Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo in Venice and the RIstorante Oste Scuro Finsterwirt in Bressanone, both dating from the 13th century, the Locanda del Cerriglio in Naples, dating from 1288, the Parkhotel Luna Mondshein in Bolzano, dating from 1320, and the Antica Locanda Mincio in Valeggio sul Mincio, dating from 1407, are Italy’s longest-standing historic establishments.
In the splendid Sala Cardinali of the Grand Hotel Cocumella in Sant’Agnello, Sorrento—whose walls are adorned with portraits of the four high-ranking prelates that Sorrento has given to the Church—in the left-hand corner opposite the entrance, you can clearly hear what a person is whispering in the right-hand corner of the entrance.
Undulating, dynamic, inspired by nature, beautiful: whether from their original construction or following renovations in the late 19th century, over seventy historic venues in Italy embraced the Art Nouveau style. Here they are, brought together in an ideal itinerary to be explored for the pleasure of a “floral stop.” The research was conducted for the 2013 edition and has become part of the historical and cultural heritage of the Guide and the Association of Historic Venues of Italy.
These are the establishments which, during the Risorgimento, witnessed episodes that led to the Unification of Italy. Brought to light by research for the 2011 edition of this Guide, which paid tribute to the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy these stories have become part of the Association’s historical legacy.
At the Caffè Fiorio in Turin—a gathering place for staunch conservatives—on March 18, 1821, they attempted to persuade the court apothecary’s assistant to poison the medicine of Carlo Alberto of Savoy, who had just been appointed Regent and had promulgated the Constitution…