[ad_1]
After 198 years, Caffè San Carlo closes, to reopen in two years, on the occasion of the bicentennial, as a luxury restaurant with starry ambitions.
It was in 1822 when this place was inaugurated, which at that time was called Caffè di Piazza D’Armi because in Piazza San Carlo there was still no Caval ‘d Brons (neither the statue nor the homonymous place that has closed for four years ago) and It was here that the Savoyard army meetings took place.
Among the oldest and most important bars in Turin, in two centuries of activity, Caffè San Carlo has seen millions and millions of people sit at its tables: citizens, passers-by, tourists, but also famous people. From politicians like Giolitti and Crispi to adventurers like the Duke of Abruzzi, from writers like Edmondo de Amicis and Alexandre Dumas – who drank his first bicerine here – to intellectuals and philosophers like Gramsci and Gobetti.
Such was the fervor that animated the most prominent clients of the restaurant, which as early as 1837 was closed for “subversive activity”, only to reopen a few months later as Caffè Vassallo named after the new owner, Vittorio Vassallo, who was entrusted to the architect Giuseppe. Leoni to design a façade that resembled a Greek building, sadly destroyed in the World War II bombings that hit the “Turin hall” hard.
For several years now, the facilities at Caffè San Carlo have been owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, who has in mind a new life for this place rich in history. Taking advantage of the closure, therefore, the renovation works have begun that should be completed in two years, when exactly 200 years have passed since the first opening: in 2022, this is the owners’ project, the San Carlo will become a fancy restaurant, right next door. of the museum that the bank created here.
There is already talk of a “restaurant with stars”, but as is well known, Michelin stars must be deserved in the field (or at the table) and an ambitious project will not be enough to ensure a meteor shower in the next restaurant. . The truth is that, with a wealth of history of this magnitude, the San Carlo restaurant – if it is called that – will attract the attention of all Turin people who today lose a point of reference that seemed eternal.
