When I go to Rome I have always to stop to Antico Caffè Greco, located in Via Condotti, few metres from Spanish Steps. For me it is a must, but also many inhabitants and tourists are frequenting the historical place. It is popular but the reasons to enter are not only related to position in the heart of the city and of the luxury shopping area. A person has to seat in the tea room because of the art, the service and the coffee.
I have to admit it: even do I am Italian I am not a coffee lover, but I like always a cup of tea, an hot chocolate maybe with cream or a fresh orange juice. I prefer to enter from Via Condotti, but it is possible to use the entrance locate on the other side, in Via delle Carrozze. Anyway guest can immediately notice the elegant setting, well preserved and full of old and stylish furniture, sculptures and paintings.
It was open in 1760 and since that year Antico Caffè Greco started to be the favourite place of artists from everywhere. Now it is hosting the group of “Romanisti” made by the intellectuals of the city. Protected as a cultural heritage the tea room is a set of rooms, each with few tables and full of artworks realized by artists in different periods and some of them famous like the work dedicated to Antico Caffè Greco by Guttuso.
It is like to be in a museum and to start a trip into the history of art. The best way is to go more times and to change table, according to the availability because it is crowdy all the time. You will have the chance to enjoy all the paintings. Of course this is one of the reasons to enter in the tea room, but also the service has its ability to attract visitors. Infact the professional and kind waiters, dressed in elegant uniforms with and antique appeal. If the client stay seated there to chat or to read all day long nobody asks him to free the table.
Also the bathroom is kept with stail and with an always present cleaner to keep the place ready to welcome guests when they need it. On the menu there are different beverages, ice cream and desserts, but it is also possible to have lunch with omelette, a sandwich or other dishes propose by the cook. I always enter from Via Condotti, so I can see the dessert bench: everytime I find something tasty to eat with a cup of tea. They prepare fantastic pastries and cakes.
Have a break into Antico Caffè Greco is a pleasure, but it is also the chance to enter in touch with the art and the tradition, so it can be part of a tourist agenda as the various attractions of Rome.
Anasa