After the pizza, Neapolitan coffee

Article written by Michele Sergio and published in Il Roma on 31.12.2017

There are two icons of our centuries-old gastronomic tradition. Two real jewels that identify our city in the world, impersonate the spirit, that Neapolitan style made of simple, genuine, true things. Pizza, the quickest, most simple and tasty fast-food; espresso coffee, the inevitable drink, for everyone and at any time of the day, immediate and certainly not by chance defined in the last century “Espresso”.

Last week, as everyone knows, Neapolitan pizza has received recognition to the immaterial heritage of Unesco humanity, after years of battles by the many supporters of every part of the world. The times are very mature: now it is the turn of Neapolitan coffee, of the Neapolitan espresso, of that “good” that deserves as much attention and international protection. It is the coffee that is made by us, in our city, copied all over the world, but not with the same art, not with the same spirit, not with the same heart that only our bartender are able to instill in the preparation of the black magic beverage.

Even with similar machines and mixtures, the espresso prepared in every other part that is not Naples is a different thing from ours, what every tourist who comes to visit our city wants to try at least once – and never limits to just one tasting – convinced, without making mistakes, to live a unique taste and cultural experience. In short, the Neapolitan espresso is the Espresso, a true institution of the Neapolitan society, which certainly deserves the Unesco recognition, like the Viennese coffees and the Caffè Turco which, perhaps not everyone knows, has received the “title” respectively in 2011 and in 2013.

We are convinced that every Neapolitan and all lovers around the world think that the recognition of the heritage of our espresso coffee is (at least) equally deserved. It is only to be hoped that the Cafés and Bars all of Naples, the best cultural, social and administrative forces, support the candidacy in a compact manner, so as to add a new, additional and precious element of luster, recognition and excellence of our city ”‹”‹and its historical and unique flavors.

From the wish to the concreteness, on December 10th 2017 at the Caffè Gambrinus the collection of signatures to support the candidacy started. The choice of the date coincides exactly with the celebration of the international day of the suspended coffee, a spreading social phenomenon and of a born custom, needless to say, just in Naples.