Coffee in Italy

Coffee consumption spread in Thirteenth Century AC, when Muslim population considered coffee as an excellent alternative to wine, forbidden by Koran.

Italy, thanks to prosperous commercial relations with Ottoman empire, introduced coffee in AD 1600 in Venice.

At that time, coffee was prepared according to the Turkish method, with a very dark roasting.

Initially, due its Muslim origin, coffee hadn’t large acceptance by Italian population, and it was labelled as a devil’s creation.

But when Pope Clemente VIII tasted the new drink, he was so delighted of its flavour to label coffee as a “Cristian” beverage. Then, after an initial hesitation and when its price dropped because it wasn’t considered as medicine anymore, coffee achieved so huge success to contribute the spread of wonderful meeting points on the entire Italian territory, the famous coffee shops, many of them still operative since then.