Café de Paris, Historic café on Via Veneto, Rome, Italy
Café de Paris was a historic café on Via Veneto in Rome, distinguished by its glass-enclosed room opening onto the sidewalk. It served traditional Italian desserts, coffee specialties, and pasta dishes near the Westin Excelsior luxury hotel.
The café gained international attention in 1960 when director Federico Fellini featured it in his film La Dolce Vita, capturing Rome's high society of that era. The film established it as a symbol of elegance and glamorous postwar Roman life.
The café attracted film stars like Sophia Loren and Frank Sinatra during the 1960s, becoming a gathering place for Roman high society. Movie industry figures and cultural personalities made it their regular meeting spot, giving the place its special status.
The establishment sat on the central Via Vittorio Veneto next to the Westin Excelsior Hotel, making it easy to locate. Its prominent location on Rome's most famous street meant prices ran higher than elsewhere in the city.
After being seized by authorities in 2009 due to ties with criminal organizations, the café came under the management of the anti-mafia organization Libera. Before closing in 2014, it sold products from farms controlled by this movement against organized crime.
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