Caffè degli Specchi

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Caffè degli Specchi on the ground floor of Casa Stratti
Caffè degli Specchi

The Caffè degli Specchi ( German  Café der Spiegel ) is one of the most famous coffee houses in the northern Italian port city of Trieste . The café, which opened in 1839, is still today modeled on the Viennese coffee house tradition. The café is located on the ground floor of Casa Stratti directly on the main square, Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia .

history

The Casa Stratti (also Palazzo Stratti ) was built in 1839 by the architect Antonio Buttazzoni at the instigation of the Greek merchant Nicolò Stratti . In the same year, the Greek Nicolò Priovolo opened the Caffè degli Specchi , which he ran for 45 years in the Viennese coffee house tradition . Thanks to its special location, the coffee house quickly became a popular meeting place for Trieste society. Since the original owner Nicolò Stratti was heavily indebted due to the immense construction costs, he sold the building to the insurance company Assicurazioni Generali in 1846 .

In 1884 the coffee house owners Antonio Cesareo and Vincenzo Carmelich took over the traditional house, which they renovated for the first time in 1933 in order to lay electrical cables, among other things. At that time, the coffee house was the regular café of the industrialist and writer Italo Svevo and was also visited by James Joyce .

After the Second World War , the entire building served as the quarters of the US and British occupying powers, which from 1947 to 1954 also secured the existence of the Free Territory of Trieste . At this time, the Trieste population was only allowed to enter the premises in Casa Stratti with a pass.

Caffè degli Specchi (2008)

After the Allies withdrew, Angelo Asperi from Bergamo took over the management of the coffee house and reopened it in 1953. From 1967 to 1969, Asperi had to close the restaurant, as the owner Assicurazioni Generali carried out extensive renovations on the building, which also affected the premises of the coffee house. In 1982 the Trieste coffee roaster Hausbrandt took over the management of the Caffè degli Specchi. In 1990 the Sessa family acted as new tenants. In October 2011, the operator Andrea Sessa announced that he could no longer operate the coffee house due to the high running costs. The coffeehouse had to be closed as a result. A few months later, however, the Italian coffee roaster Segafredo Zanetti was won as a buyer, who leased the traditional house to the Peratoner confectioner chain from Pordenone . The new opening took place on March 14, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Casa Stratti (Trieste)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Caffè e Pasticcerie Storiche ( Memento of December 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), at Pro loco
  2. ↑ Today the coffee house is popularly known as Il Salotto di Trieste (The living room of Trieste) .
  3. ↑ Cristina, Benussi (2007): I Greci , in: Dentro Trieste - Ebrei, Greci, Sloveni, Serbi, Croati, Protestanti, Armeni , ed. v. Cristina Benussi u. a. (Hammerle Editori), Opicina, p. 61.
  4. ↑ Marisa Fumagalli: Esplora il significato del Dates: Corsa per il Caffè riaprire amato since Joyce e as Svevo , Corriere della Sera , December 29, 2011
  5. ↑ Trieste loses the Caffè degli Specchi in: News ORF of October 31, 2011, accessed on May 31, 2013.
  6. ↑ Caffè degli Specchi rimesso a nuovo Apertura il 14 marzo in: Il Piccolo from February 22, 2012, accessed on May 31, 2013.

Coordinates: 45 ° 39 ′ 0.7 ″  N , 13 ° 46 ′ 6 ″  E