Destinations · Italy · Naples
Historic café
Gran Caffè Gambrinus
The belle époque café of the city — stucco, an espresso taken standing, and the sospeso.
Gambrinus has been the city’s reception room since the nineteenth century, and its Liberty-style salons have carried intellectuals, kings and presidents. The Neapolitan version of the visit, though, happens at the counter: an espresso taken standing, short and already sweetened unless you say otherwise.
It is also where to practise the caffè sospeso — paying for a coffee someone else will claim later. Counter and table are two different price worlds; look before you sit.