Rome's oldest cafe saved from closure
The Antico Caffe Greco opened near the Spanish Steps in the heart of the Italian capital in 1760.
Artists, intellectuals and writers including Mark Twain and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe gathered there to share their ideas and it was a must-see on the Grand Tour for privileged Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries.
But the historic building – now a tourist attraction flanked by designer stores – has been fighting for its survival in recent years as the building's owner, the Israelite Hospital, wants to redevelop it.
A high court decision approving the cafe's closure appeared to seal its fate, but the ministry of culture intervened at the eleventh hour on Thursday, declaring the cafe's walls to be of 'cultural interest' and saying both the furniture and furnishings were 'immovable'.
Alessandro Giuli, the culture minister, told The Telegraph on Friday the cafe is a 'historic jewel' and his ministry would act as 'a moderator' to seek a solution between the parties to guarantee its survival.
'The importance of Cafe Greco cannot be ignored,' he said.
The lease expired in September 2017, when the cafe's management said the owners wanted to raise the rent to match those being paid by the surrounding luxury stores in Rome's premier shopping street.
Lawyers for the Israelite Hospital were unavailable for comment on Friday but Italian media reports said it claimed to be losing a million euros a year because the rent was below market rate.
The cafe has weathered 250 years of turbulent history including war, political upheaval and cultural renaissance.
Casanova, the notorious Venetian playboy, once visited, as did the legendary American showman William Frederick Cody, better known as 'Buffalo Bill', who sipped a coffee there with a posse of cowboys in 1890.
Famous for its plush 'red room', the cafe boasts 300 works of art, as well as marble tables, velvet chairs, art deco lamps and gilt mirrors.
The Italian capital's tourism site describes it as 'an emblem of international Rome' and a place where 'the most brilliant minds have found inspiration'.
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