The Antico Caffè Greco, in Via dei Condotti, opened its doors in 1760, which makes itthe oldest coffee shop in Rome and the second oldest in Italy. Only Caffe Florian (1720) in Venice is older. In the 19th century the Caffè Greco was the preferred meeting place for many of the non-Italian residents of Rome, being frequented by some of the brightest lights of the literary and musical worlds, such as Liszt, Strauss, Mark Twain, Gogol, Hans Christian Andersen, Baudelaire, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Stendhal, Wagner, to name but a few!
In 1953 the Antico Caffè Greco was granted the status of a national monument.