You may know Perugia for its well-known chocolate tradition, but coffee is also very important here! Let us take you to its main historical cafes.
Perugia is a charming city in the Umbria region in central Italy. The landscapes here are really unique: the Umbrian hills are famous worldwide. The city also hosts the Umbria Jazz Festival, which is very renowned outside of Italy as well.
The city centre has always been the home to many historic cafes, even though unfortunately many of them are not in business anymore today.
The main street of the city, Corso Vannucci, was once the place of 4 very important Perugia’s cafes. They were very close one to the other and their names were: Caffè Falci, Caffè Sandri, Caffè Medio Evo and Bar Vitalesta. Only the Sandri café is still open to this day, while the other ones had to close at some point.
Caffè di Perugia
Caffé di Perugia was previously known as Caffè Falci and as we mentioned, was located near the main street of the city. It was popular in the past as the meeting point for the youngsters of the city. Lately the place had been under the spotlight once again and local people considered it the “place to go”. Unfortunately, in 2020 Caffè di Perugia had to close its doors for good.
Rumor has it, the place will be soon turned into a restaurant.
Caffè Medio Evo
This café was considered to be one of the best pastry shop of the city together with Caffè Sandri, and therefore is no surprise that its closure was a disappointment for many. Its history is peculiar, as it opened first as a barber shop, but was turned into a café in the 20s.Caffè Medio Evo is located at the ground floor of Palazzo Baldeschi. This historical building is characterized by unique frescoes and a luxurious style, and its walls are built of middle-age stones.
Bar Vitalesta
Bar Vitalesta was no doubt one the most important café for the city. It was characterized by its Liberty style and wooden décor. It was very dear to football fans in the city, as it was the meeting point to see the Perugia Calcio matches when it was playing an away game. This might not come to a surprise when you know that Peppino Vitalesta, the first owner of the bar, was a previous player with Perugia Calcio in the 30s.
Caffè Pasticcieria Sandri
Caffè Pasticceria Sandri was established in 1860 by a Swiss man Jachen Schucan, later best known by the name of Giacomo. Giacomo is said to love Umbria because its hills and green landscape were similar to the ones in his homeland.
Giacomo’s son, Claudio, took over the business when his father died in 1899. The place was very popular under his guidance and was particularly renowned for its coffee, confetti and homemade liqueurs.
Unfortunately, Caludio died young, when his children were still too young to take the business over. It was a very harsh time for the café. Luckily in 1918, one of Claudio’s distant cousin named Nicola Zonder saved the business by taking it over. Nicola renamed the place “Caffè Sandri”. In 1931, Nicola’s nephew Guglielmo helped his uncle in the management of the place. Together they were able to bring the café back to its original splendor, by attracting very important customers.
The interiors of Caffé Sandri are very luxurious and have unique 19th century frescoes by the well-known Annubale Brugnoli. Most of the furnishing is made of wood and in Art Nouveau style, but you can find a lot of marble and crystal as well.
Some of the “celebrity” costumers of the place were: king Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. Queen Beatrix of Netherlands and Wueen Mother Elizabeth.
Caffè Sandri is today the best pastry shop in the city, among its delicacies: Sacher cake and other chocolate cakes, the gelato, cream puffs and an almond cake snake-shaped named “ Tortiglione Perugino”…and of course the espresso. Many of the recipes here are still the original ones from the founder, even though each person who managed the place brought its own personal touch.
The place has been closed only for a few months between 2013 and 2014, and it is still managed today by two members of the family, Carla and Nicoletta.
Antica Latteria di Perugia
Antica Latteria di Perugia is today located in Via Baglioni, originally established in Via della Gabbia in 1925. The first owner came from the dairy industry, and it is no surprise the place is considered to have the best whipped cream in the city. Cream is strongly linked to the tradition of the café that their whipped cream is still prepared by hand. For this reason, the place’s delicacy is the maritozzo (a traditional Italian baked produc) with whipped cream. At Antica Latteria di Perugia whipped cream is also served as a coffee topping, but you have to be aware of the 3 mains rules here:
- Do never add sugar on the topping whipped cream
- Do never stir the topping whipped cream or it will melt in your coffee
- Don’t wait for the cream to melt by itself, eat it with your coffee
So today you learnt Perugia charm is not only in architecture, chocolate and jazz, but it’s with its historical cafes as well. Stay tuned for our next historical coffee tour: where do you think we are going to take you next time?
