Café restaurants in Italy
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Caffè dei Frari
Take your espresso with a heaping of history at the century-old carved wooden bar, or recover from sensory overload of I Frari with a sandwich, glass of wine and easy conversation at dinky indoor cafe tables.
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La Cantineta
Off Piazza del Plebiscito, the upstairs restaurant offers checked tablecloths, a constantly going TV and cheap and filling meals. It specialises in seafood, including local salted fish, which is best sampled over pasta as tagliatelle allo stoccafisso.
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Antico Caffè
Unfortunately located on a busy road junction, this is Cagliari’s most famous cafe. Sip cocktails on the terrace or inside amid the polished wood and brass.
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Caffè Pedrocchi
Since 1831, this neoclassical landmark has been a favourite of Stendhal and other pillars of Padua’s cafe society for heart-poundingly powerful coffee and caffè correto (coffee cocktails). The grand 1st floor is decorated in styles ranging from ancient Egyptian to Imperial, and during the day you can visit the Museo del Risorgimento e dell’Età Contemporanea, recounting local and national history from the fall of Venice in 1797 until the republican constitution of 1848 in original documents, images and mementos.
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Caffè Quadri
Powdered wigs seem appropriate attire in this bodaciously baroque salon. A cafe since 1683, it became a Hapsburg hot spot under the Vivarini brothers during the 19th-century Austrian occupation. Venetians with long memories still veer instinctively towards the Florian, missing out on decadent desserts like baked ice cream and the €16 hot chocolate service with panna (whipped cream) and Venetian cookies. Reserve ahead during Carnevale, when the Quadri is packed with costumed revellers partying like it’s 1699.
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Fischbänke Pic-Nic Bar
A sign next to the speakers that reads ‘This is not McDonald’s’ says it all. Run by artist-host– bon vivant Cobo on the site of the old fish market, the Fischbänke has the market’s original white-marble tables that you can pull up a stool at for a glass of Tyrolean wine, and quite possibly northern Italy’s most beautiful bruschetta, while Cobo shows you his artwork, which includes a series of charismatic cartoon birds. Hours can vary if Cobo feels like shutting up early or (more likely) staying open late.
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Necci
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
To start your exploration of this bar-studded area, try the iconic Necci, opened in 1924, where film director Pasolini used to hang out, and where he filmed some of Accattone. More recently it appeared in Francesca Archibugi’s Una questione di Cuore. Gutted by fire in 2009, it was swiftly restored to how it was. It caters to an eclectic crowd of all ages, and has a lovely, leafy garden-terrace (ideal for families out for dinner as the kids have some room to play). There’s wi-fi.
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Caffè Sant’Eustachio
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
A small stand-up place with some of Rome’s best coffee, this is always three deep at the bar. The famous gran caffè is created by beating the first drops of espresso and several teaspoons of sugar into a frothy paste, then adding the rest of the coffee on top. It’s superbly smooth and guaranteed to put zing into your sightseeing. Specify if you want it amaro (bitter) or poco zucchero (with a little sugar).
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Chiostro del Bramante Caffè
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
A well-kept secret: a footfall from Piazza Navona, you can have a drink and snack (or a €30 Sunday brunch) on salads, friselli (Pugliese dried bread, reconstituted with water and loaded with toppings), and so on (€6 to €12), all while making use of the wi-fi, in the peaceful Renaissance splendour of Bramante’s cloister, which hosts regular contemporary art installations.
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Ristofer
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
Technically Ristofer is a railway-workers' canteen, but it's open to the public and is cheerily welcoming and completely institutional. Just go through the massive wooden doors, grab a tray and choose whatever looks good on the day. It's not gourmet food, but if you want a cheap, belly-filling meal, at around €7 for a primo, secondo and dolce it's just the ticket.
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Cibi Cotti
The gruff old chap in the Godfather sunglasses is Vittorio and deep down he's a softie. His little white-tiled eatery is an in-the-know gem, tucked away in a raffish market arcade. Conversations bounce from table to laminex table as regulars feed on simple, filling and super-cheap choices such as sardine fritte (fried sardines) and rice with octopus, rocket and cherry tomatoes.
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Gran Caffè la Caffettiera
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
This stately café is famous for its Neapolitan cakes – try the babà (sponge cake soaked in rum) for something special, and the southern staple rustici (cheese-and-tomato-filled pastry puffs) for something savoury. Sit in the elegant Art Deco interior, or outside, where you can watch life on the square, overlooked by the ancient Tempio di Adriano.
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La Tazza d’Oro
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
Head here for caffeine heaven. A busy, stand-up café with burnished 1940s fittings, this has some of the best coffee in the capital. In summer, a cooling must is the speciality, granita di caffè, a crushed-ice, sugared coffee served with a generous dollop of cream top and bottom. If you just want cream on either the top/bottom, ask for solo sopra/sotto.
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Moma
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
Molto trendy: this café-restaurant is a real find. It’s sleekly sexy and popular with workers from nearby offices. There’s a small stand-up café downstairs, with a nice little deck outside where you can linger longer over coffee and delicious dolcetti. Upstairs is a cucina creativa restaurant (meals €50).
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Circus
A rather quirky hangout for sometimes over-serious Trieste, Circus lives up to its colourful name with a vaguely big-top decor mixed with old-time movie paraphernalia. It’s a great lunch stop with its ample panini (€4 to €5), huge bowls of salad (€5) and a selection of nicely priced primi (first courses). The atmosphere’s cool but not haughty.
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Caffè Capitolino
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
This well-kept secret of a café is a lovely spot to take a break from the wonders of the Capitoline Museums and relax with a drink or a snack – the food’s nothing special, but the views from the rooftop terrace are stupendous. You don’t even need a museum ticket; you can enter from the street entrance to the right of the Palazzo dei Conservatori.
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Caffè del Doge
Sniff your way to the Doge, where hyperactive coffee connoisseurs slurp their way through the menu of speciality import coffees from Ethiopia to Guatemala, all roasted on the premises. The decor is more like a laboratory than a classic Venetian cafe and the looped video ad seems like hype, but these beans have earned an international following.
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Rosati
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
Rosati, overlooking the vast disc of Piazza del Popolo, was once the hang-out of the left-wing chattering classes. Authors Italo Calvino and Alberto Moravia used to drink here while their right-wing counterparts went to the Canova over the square. Today tourists are the main clientele, and the views are as good as ever.
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Caffè Greco
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
Caffè Greco opened in 1760 and retains the look: penguin waiters, red flock and gilt mirrors. Casanova, Goethe, Wagner, Keats, Byron, Shelley and Baudelaire were all regulars. Now it’s fewer artists and lovers and more shoppers and tourists. Prices reflect this, unless you do as the locals do and have a drink at the bar.
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Caffè Farnese
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
We’re with Goethe, who thought Piazza Farnese one of the world’s most beautiful squares. Judge for yourself from the vantage of this unassuming café. On a street between Campo de’ Fiori and Piazza Farnese, it’s ideally placed for whiling away the early afternoon hours. Try the secret-recipe caffè alla casa (house coffee).
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Colicchia
The granita (flavoured crushed ice) here is the best in Trapani. Many flavours are available, including old favourites such as mandorla (almond), coffee and limone (lemon), but you should also try the seasonal delicacies, such as gelsi (mulberry), which is only eaten in from July to September.
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Café Café
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
This is a hugely popular gem, the kind of pint-sized wine bar, restaurant and café that everyone needs in their neighbourhood. The changing menu features light stuff such as caprese as well as tastes from elsewhere like hummus and tzatziki. The few outside tables overlook the Colosseum at the end of the street.
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La Caffeteria
A delightful café in Maratea's central piazza with outdoor seating for dedicated people-watching. The cakes and pastries on display deserve serious attention. Try a local favourite, the almond-filled mandola. Also a great spot for evening drinks when the piazza is alive with music.
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Kave Club
A modern café/bar right on the main piazza. The in-crowd comes here to watch the scene with a generous glass of wine and large plates of aperitivi. Service is terrible but that doesn't seem to deter anyone. There's a good selection of salads, cheese and meat plates.
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Ciampini
- Rome, Italy
- Restaurants › Café
The graceful, traffic-free square of San Lorenzo is an ideal stop for an al fresco coffee among the well-heeled folk of the neighbourhood. Bring your big sunglasses and little dog. Sitting outside is pricey, so remember it’s an investment and settle. The gelato is also tip-top.
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