Rome is where you experience espresso culture at its most deeply rooted. The morning ritual — standing at a marble bar, downing a quick caffè, leaving a coin — is unchanged in decades. Trastevere and Monti are where specialty coffee is slowly gaining ground, but the city's traditional bars are the real draw. Ordering a cappuccino after 11am remains a genuine faux pas.
Coffee neighborhoods
Sant'Eustachio il Caffè, near the Pantheon, has been serving coffee since 1938 and keeps its recipe a closely guarded secret — the baristas work behind a screen.
1789 cafes