Caffè Gilli in Florence, where Prezzolini used to meet the editors of his La Voce literary journal from 1908 to 1916; Caffè Mangini in Genoa, which after the last war became the field office for the editorial staff of Il Secolo XIX and Il Lavoro, with legendary directors like Cavassa and Pertini.
A meeting place for journalists and men of letters, it was the focal center of the staff of the local paper Secolo XIX which included such legendary editors as Cavassa and Pertini. Even today the cultural spirit is predominant in this traditional Genovese café still decorated with the original furnishings.
In Via Calzaioli, where it started out as the “Bottega dei Pani Dolci”, in 1848 the staff joined the crowd to bid volunteer soldiers farewell as they left for Curtatone and Montanara, the battle that symbolised the patriotic fight against Austria. When it moved to Via degli Speziali, it enchanted Lina Cavalieri and Fregoli, who performed at the famous Trianon opposite. In the early twentieth century, in the turbulent square of Florentine Futurism, it became the elegant café of “ordered” intellectuals, where Carducci used to stop by and Prezzolini enjoyed meeting his publishers from La Voce.
