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Verdi and Toscanini would stop by after La Scala shows and King Umberto I declared that it served the best coffee in Milan. It even shows up in Boccioni’s Riot in the Galleria (see ). This café opened inside the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele (see GalleriaVittorio Emanuele II) in 1868, though the Art Nouveau décor came a little later. Its prime location at the galleria entrance gives a great view of the Duomo façade (see Zucca in Galleria (Caffè Miani)).

The Faccioli family opened Cova near La Scala theatre in 1817 and, though it was later moved to Milan’s prime shopping street, Via Montenapoleone, it has remained in the family – and continues to be café of choice for the city’s elite – ever since. Its made-in-house pastries, chocolates and sandwiches are some of the most exquisite in town, and they brew up a mean cappuccino to boot. There’s an elegant little tea room with refined service if all the window shopping has left you too tired to stand, but since this is still Italy, you’re also welcome to just run in and toss back an espresso.

Cova, Milan

Looking every inch the 1936 café, from its wood-panelling to its pink stucco decorations, Sant’Ambroseus is counted among the great temples of chocolate in Italy. Their speciality is the ambrogiotti : an indulgence of dark chocolate wrapped around an egg cream.

Run by former Vogue fashion editor Carla Sozzani with the same over-priced, excruciatingly trendy verve that has made her attached boutique such a popular success, the café offers great aperitivi and a chance to hobnob with Milan’s elite.

When Teresa D’Ambrosio opened this place, she envisaged the fin de siècle cafés where artists met, writers scribbled away at corner tables, professors spent an hour or two poring over the papers and political thinkers made plans in hushed tones. And, indeed, Milan’s intelligentsia do appear to have taken the bait and placed themselves at appropriate tables.

A lovely corner café that’s a cross between an Irish pub and a Parisian Art Deco café, with a zinc bar, high ceilings, free newspapers and a decent list of dishes along with coffee, beer, cocktails and apéritifs.

A wonderful old-fashioned café and chocolatier happily “discovered” by many a visitor trekking out to see the Last Supper . The décor hasn’t changed since 1824, the coffee is quite good and the pastries are favoured by Giorgio Armani.

Don’t let the over-busy window decorations and trilling recorded birdsong put you off – Cozzi is the best spot in all of Bergamo to while away an hour or two with some wine and a choice of cheeses, cured meats, quiches and tortes .

For over 500 years, the Tasso has been Bergamo’s meeting spot for everyone from princes to rebels. Garibaldi and his red shirts met here in revolutionary days; in fact, it was once such a hotbed of discontent that a decree (displayed on the wall) was made in 1845 prohibiting rebellious conversations here. Now the only seditious sentiments are grumbles about the price of a cappuccino.

You just can’t get a better seat in town than one at an outdoor table set under a lofty medieval arcade with the façade of Cremona’s Duomo filling up your panorama. The coffee is good (not always a given), as are the panini and gelato .