The dozing mocha mumbles and a warm and enveloping aroma pervades my camper. When I think of an Italian trip and not only in a camper, images and scents often come to mind. Like that of coffee and some historic cafés where you can stop and sip a hot drink, perhaps while admiring the city from the windows.
There are around 100: real museums, full of furnishings, memorabilia and delicacies to taste, where you can stop for a break on your Italian trip by camper. They are all cafeterias. Mark them in your diary if you visit these cities during your weekend or a trip.
Are you ready? let’s go!
An Italian trip by camper in the historic cafés
Turin café: Al Bicerin
Dal 1763 in Piazza della Consolata among boiseries decorated with mirrors and lamps, you can taste the famous Bicerin. You know what it is? a delicious mix of chocolate, coffee and hot milk cream served in a small glass without a handle: the bicerin. Very famous personalities such as Puccini and Cavour have sat in this café to name just a few. Umberto Eco talks about the café al Bicerin in a setting in his novel “The Prague Cemetery”.
Venice: Caffè Florian
It is perhaps the oldest and most famous Italian café. Inaugurated in 1720, it opened with two rooms and in 1858, it was enlarged to the aspect we know now: six luxurious rooms each decorated differently. Years ago on a weekend in Venice we treated ourselves to a hot chocolate right here among the halls adorned with mirrors and velvet armchairs; a dive into the past and into the memories of illustrious travelers and Venetians.
Padua: Pedrocchi café
The most prestigious historic café in Europe dates back to 1772 and is located in the main square of Padua. In a succession of labyrinths of doors, gilded mirrors, velvet armchairs, and stuccos, a place that keeps stories, memories and ancient legends is confirmed. If you come here for a coffee Look for the hole in the wall in the Sala Bianca: it was in fact here that the Risorgimento uprisings began
Milan: Caffè Pasticceria Cova
The date is 1817 and it was the literary café in the city center right next to the Teatro La Scala. After the bombings of the Second World War it was redone in the very central Via Montenapoleone where you can still find the rooms and furnishings of the period today. Obviously today it is a luxurious destination for tourists who come here for shopping.
Florence: Gilli café
Also counted among the oldest Italian cafés, it was opened in 1733 by the Swiss Gigli family in via dei Calzaiuoli. At the beginning of the 1900s it moved to Piazza della Repubblica to become the Florentine drawing room. It still remains the only Art Nouveau cafe in Florence and is a must for tourists, but also for the Florentine living room.
The Italian journey in camper through cafes continues..
Rome: Greco Café
I’ll take you to the luxurious Via Condotti: since 1760, Caffè Greco has been offering coffee and mouth-watering sweets, in a refined setting among an exhibition of 300 famous works, and where characters of the caliber of Leopardi Goethe have sat and think… Bull Sitting! The name probably comes from the first owner of Greek origin, who served coffee decanted in the Greek or Turkish way in his café.
And even if my favorite café in Rome remains Sant’Eustachio, here you will sip a coffee in an environment full of anecdotes and stories, which should be stopped when thinking about a trip to Rome by camper.
Cosenza: Renzelli Café
I haven’t visited this city yet, but friends have told me that here at Caffè Renzelli in 1844 the revolts against the Bourbons were born. Since 1803 the Renzelli family has kept the secret of their desserts in the premises located on Corso Telesio on the Pancrazio hill, one of the seven hills of the Calabrian town. One piece of advice they gave me: if you go to Cosenza come here and ask for the “Varchiglia alla monacale”, a dessert made with a soft dough, which remains an exclusive recipe by Renzelli, and which dates back to the distant 1300s. This historic café is he says that the Bandiera Brothers were taken before being shot: an Italian story in the history of this place!
Naples: Gambrinus Café
We close this Italian trip by camper with the historic cafés, with Naples and the Gambrinus café a true institution. since 1860, pastry chefs and ice cream makers have succeeded one another behind the counter, making the best in Italy. its rooms have inspired the Caffé Chantal and have seen numerous events and literary moments. This historic Neapolitan restaurant had its best period in the Belle Epoque; in fact during the years of the early twentieth century it was the center of culture and art of the city. If “a tazzulella e cafè” arrived in Naples in the 1700s, it is said that the first suspended coffee was born at the Gambrinus.
Obviously, therefore, when visiting Naples, my advice is to include a tasteful stop here too.
Italian trip by camper in Emilia Romagna
Let’s close this list with a place from our region and therefore we bring you:
- Bologna: Caffè Pasticceria Gamberini
In the center of Bologna since 1907 you can see original and restored furnishings in this café and pastry shop, enjoying its famous croissants together with a cup of coffee or cappuccino from early in the morning, comfortably seated in the dehors under the elegant arcades, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.You are in fact in a Historic Place in Italy. Do you remember the film “My friends” by Monicelli? Well, the memorable banquets of the film take their cue from this place famous for this type of event.
I conclude this camper trip with the oldest restaurant in the world and take you to the Middle Ages.
Sean’s Bar
The restaurant is located in Ireland in Athlon on the Shannon river and was founded before the year one thousand It is certified that it is the oldest restaurant in Ireland and probably, as reported in the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest in the world. Obviously the history of this place is full of encounters and anecdotes: one is linked to its renovation in 1970. Old coins minted by the owners for their customers have been found for bartering. The then walls and coins are on display in the National Museum, while a section remains on display in the pub.
Conclusions
The muttering coffee maker finally took us on an Italian journey in a camper to discover places that have endless stories to tell between the rooms and the furnishings. That we, as happens with the pages of a book, have only slightly leafed through them here.
So my personal suggestion is to mark them with a bookmark and in your next outings go and taste them in a good coffee.
If you want to better organize your Italian trip in a camper in the most beautiful cities, here are some of our organizational suggestions:
How to visit a city by camper: our 7 suggestions
Now, goodbye, or my coffee will get cold.
