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# Antico Caffe Greco, the Roman café founded in 1760 that Gogol and Stendhal visited
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/prodolzhaia-rasskaz-o-kultovykh-gastronomicheskikh-mestakh-vspomnil-o-rimskom-kafe-osnovannom-v-1760-godu/
- Published: 2019-04-30T15:09:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:53:27.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Books, Observations, Mores, Rome

Continuing the tale of cult gastronomic haunts, I recalled a Roman café founded in 1760\. The cosy Antico Caffe Greco, beside the Spanish Steps, was frequented by Stendhal, Casanova, Andersen and Schopenhauer. The walls of this little coffee house are hung with portraits of its world-famous habitués and adorned with their autographs. They say Gogol held court here often while writing *Dead Souls*, and in the small room a framed letter from Nikolai Vasilyevich to Pletnev, Rector of the University of Saint Petersburg, hangs on the wall: “I can write about Russia only in Rome, only there does she appear to me whole, in all her vastness...”. Should you find yourself at Via Condotti, 86, right between the Prada shops, try, for instance, the pistachio cake and the lemon pie, and wash them down with a red passion cocktail made with blood orange and strawberry. The entrance to the coffee house, by the way, can also be found at via delle Carrozze, 61