THE WEEKENDER

Pirona’s owners Cristina De Marchi and brother Sergio

COFFEE IN THEIR BLOOD Words by LARS COLLIN Photographs by MAURO RONGIONE Italy breeds high expectations when it comes to coffee. But the best is found in a city on the country’s fringe that is in many ways the least Italian

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Buffet da Pepi

rieste got into the coffee business in the 17th century T after a battle 500km away in when the defeated Turks abandoned their siege of the city and left behind sacks of beans. Curious Viennese got their hands on the stuff and before long were interested in acquiring more. Given Trieste’s position on the northeastern Adriatic and its allegiance to the Hapsburg empire – the city only became part of Italy following World War I – the port soon became a top destination for coffee imports, helped along by a 1719 Hapsburg decree declaring it a free trade zone. After passing into Italian hands, Trieste’s coffee culture continued to boom and today the city is populated by con- noisseurs who don’t shy away from a postprandial espresso or morning cappuccino – Tries- tines drink twice as much as their compatriots (equivalent to 10kg of beans per year). Coffee roasters such as Hausbrandt, started by captain Hermann Hausbrandt of the Austrian Merchant Marine in 1892, are household names. The best known is the third-

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Canal Grande

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Caffè Tommaseo

generation family business set in Trieste so even if you know up by Francesco 80 years Italian you may find it confus- ago, whose iconic aluminum ing. For starters, we ask for a tins of Arabica are sold in nero when we want an espresso; 50,000 cafés worldwide. we say capo when we want an espresso with milk [macchiato] Where to get your while a cappuccino is ordered caffeine fix by asking for a caffe latte.” Caffè Tommaseo is Trieste’s Piazza Nicolo Tommaseo 4C. oldest café, dating back to 1830. www.caffetommaseo.com The Viennese-style coffee house – think ornate white stucco, James Joyce came to Trieste tall mirrors, Thonet chairs and as an English teacher and marble tabletops – is a favorite holed up here for 12 years. He of Riccardo Illy, the one-time penned A Portrait of the Artist as mayor of Trieste whose family is a Young Man in the art nouveau synonymous with the city (not Pirona. This petite pastry shop surprisingly, Tommaseo serves is popular among those with an Illy’s blend to patrons). To get appetite for Sacher torte and visitors up to speed, Illy gives apple strudel. Joyce came here a quick lesson on local café to write, drink a glass of chilled culture. “We have our own lingo wine and eat his daily presnitz, X

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Piazza dell’Unità D’Italia

Caffè San Marco

a dried fruit and nut puff the leaves of coffee plants give pastry. the place a decidedly Mittel- Largo della Barriera Vecchia 12 europa air. Via Cesare Battisti 18. At Caffè San Marco novel- ist, cultural philosopher and Where to eat Triestine Claudio Magris is For a proper taste of Trieste, often to be found holding court you have to dine at Buffet or scribbling away. In his book da Pepi or Siora Rosa whose Microcosms, Magris writes hearty fare is a reminder of of his preferred : the city’s Austro-Hungarian “San Marco is a Noah’s Ark, heritage. Popu lar for lunch, where there’s room for every- don’t expect big portions of one – no one takes precedence, pasta – the dish didn’t have no one is excluded – for every much appeal until Trieste couple seeking shelter in a starting flying the Italian downpour and even for the flag – or a sit-down trattoria. partnerless.” When he’s not At Pepi, there are eight at his favorite table, Magris’ cramped tables and many eat portrait keeps an eye on standing up. Its forte is pork, patrons, many of whom are either served in a sandwich or students, as they engage in a on a platter with sauerkraut, game of chess or sit with their hot mustard and horseradish. noses buried in their books, At Siora Rosa, run by siblings perhaps hoping to repeat Maurizio, Monica and Morena the success of San Marco’s Facco, you can tuck into resident author. The mahogany goulash and polenta or sarde paneled walls and bar and in saor, a dish with Venetian decorative ceilings showing origins that consists of fried X

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What to do and see If you want something sweet, Learn the dark arts of the La Bomboniera, with its at Illy’s Università del high ceilings, beautiful glass Caffè. “We’ve probably trained displays and boiserie, is an old- half the barmen in the city,” school confectionery. Started jokes Riccardo Illy. The daylong by a Hungarian family in 1850, espresso excellence course staff still prepare cookies and combines theory and practice, candy in a traditional wood- covering everything from grind- fired oven. The specialty is rigo- ing to machine maintenance, janci, a chocolate sponge cake so that you end up pulling with a cocoa mousse filling. the perfect shot of espresso. Via Trenta Ottobre 3 Illy’s formula is quite precise, arguing the ideal cup is made Where to stay with seven grams of ground Built in 1880, when the city coffee and extracted within was known as Vienna-by-the- Università del Caffè 30 seconds when the water is Sea, the Hotel Continentale just below boiling point at nine is the grande dame of Trieste atmospheres of pressure. Stu- hotels. Just a short stroll from sardine fillets with white dents take turns at the controls the seafront and the Piazza onions, raisins and pine nuts. and get plenty of caffeine. dell’Unità D’Italia, the Conti- To drink, try the unfiltered Bora Via Flavia 110 nentale is flanked by the bars, Scura, a dark amber ale from a unicaffe.illy.com restaurants and boutiques of microbrewery in Muggia close fashionable Via San Nicolò. to the border with Slovenia. If you want freshly roasted The breakfast room doubles as The beer takes its name from coffee, venture over to an elegant café, with a terrace the wind that in winter reaches Torrefazione La Triestina, perfect for people-watching. hurricane-strength and wreaks the city’s smallest roaster and Doubles from €130. havoc on the city, uproot- coffeehouse. Pick up Arabica Via San Nicolò 25. ing trees and knocking down varieties from Colombia and www.continentalehotel.com pedestrians. Brazil used in the house blend Buffet da Pepi La Triestina or try an espresso Additional reporting: Ivan Carvalho James Joyce on Trieste’s Via della Cassa di Risparmio 3. served in a shot glass – ask for Canal Grande a nero in b (bicer, or glass, in the 4 GO TO VENICE Book your trip at Siora Rosa local dialect). Flysas.com. Use money or EuroBonus Piazza Attilio Hortis 3. Via di Cavana 2 points, or both.

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