Drinking in History: The Story Behind the Caffè Pedrocchi of Padua

Last month, The World of Interiors, my favorite decorating magazine, published an article about the Caffè Pedrocchi, a 180-year old café in the heart of Padua.  While I’ve walked past this café countless times (and even once arranged a dinner for clients there), I never truly gave it much thought.

My mistake.

The “beating heart” of the café is the Sala Rossa, where you’ll find an enormous curving bar of fawn-colored marble that resembles a Roman vasca.(Photo World of Interiors)

The article, artfully written by Lee Marshall, provided a fascinating virtual tour of both the café’s architecture and history, sparking in me a new curiosity about this old place.

The colour scheme of the café is inspired by the Italian flag - white, red and green (Photo World of Interiors)

Built in 1831 by radical Venetian architect Giuseppe Jappelli for businessman Antonio Pedrocchi, the café was considered ambitious –  practically subversive – for its time.  Pedrocchi  aspired for his café to be a glorious exaltation of the café culture; one where everyone, regardless of status, was welcome to convene and commune.

The sala bianca (white room) - horizontal ondulations in plaster is used to extraordinary effect on the walls (Photo World of Interiors)

This ambition was shocking enough to the conservative citizens of 19^th-century Padua, but the majestic scale and luxuriousness of this open-to-all café was even more so.

The café is a neoclassical wonder with an elegant façade calls to mind a cathedral rather than a coffee house.  The ground floor is composed of three sumptuous marble salons:  the Sala Bianca, the Sala Rossa, and Sala Verde – each  representing the colors of the Italian flag.  The atmosphere of these rooms is distinctly classical, in no small part thanks to the Greek geometric floor pattern and the watchful presence of Doric pillars.

The café is a neoclassical wonder (Photo Caffè Predrocchi)

According to the article, the “beating heart” of the café is the Sala Rossa, where you’ll find an enormous curving bar of fawn-colored marble that resembles a Roman vasca.  Flanking the doors to the salon are bas-reliefs of the allegorical figures “Day and Night.”  These figures are said to refer to the fact that the café was open 24 hours for the first 85 years of its existence, leading to the café’s nickname “café without doors.”

WoI: "Venetian traders introduced Europe to coffee and until the mid 19th century the Veneto remained the spritual home and the geographical heart of the coffee house" (Photo Caffè Pedrocchi)

Wildly successful, Caffè Pedrocchi became the gathering place for not just local students, artists, politicians, but intellectuals world-wide. Literary giants no less celebrated than Stendhal, Théophile Gautier, Maxim Gorky were avid fans of the café, and many immortalized it in their writings.

Today the café remains as convivial as ever, hosting cultural events such as wine tastings, book readings and concerts.

And I, for one, will be paying homage to this historical coffee house the next time I’m in Padua.

If you would like to rent a selfcatering villa, farmhouse or apartment or agriturismo in northern Italy somewhere between Venice, Padua and Vicenza, visit us at Trust&Travel.