L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano O utside Caffé San- t'Eus tachio s tu- dents and cabbies, bankers and bro- kers, pundits and senators sip espresso and mock the news. Starbucks, the US cof- fee chain with nearly 27,000 locations worldwide, had opened its first Italian store in Milan. "Blasphemy," pronounces an archivist from the Palazzo della Sapienza. He stirs his demitasse and flicks crema on the sidewalk three times. The mosaic of a stag with a cross between its antlers paves the bar's entrance. Starbucks may be a $14 bil- lion franchise, but Caffé San- t'Eustachio, perhaps Rome's most revered coffeehouse, is a cult. The café takes its name and emblem from a nearby church dedicated to St. Eustace, the patron of hunters and a fictional 1st century martyr. D uring the reign of the Emperor Trajan, a Roman gen- eral named Placidus often hunt- ed deer in the fores ts near Tivoli. One day, he saw a cross glowing between the horns of a stag and converted to Christiani- ty. He baptized his entire family, changed his name to Eustace, and adopted the stag and cross as his crest. Trajan tolerated these eccen- tricities, until they interfered with the general's duties. When Eustace refused to offer incense to the pagan gods at a triumph, the emperor ordered him to be roasted alive inside a bronze bull. With gruesome aptness, his church in Piazza Sant'Eusta- chio, the site of his martyrdom and a block west of the Pan- theon, is filled day and night with the incense of burning oak and toasted coffee beans. The area boasts many fine cafés. Tazza d'Oro, Sant'Eusta- chio's biggest rival, rules in summer, thanks to its granita di caffé: frozen coffee interlaced with layers of whipped cream. Camillioni, small and unpreten- tious, serves exquisite chocolate dolci. Giolitti, a fashionable ice cream parlor since the Belle Époque, features a golden salon and tunicked servers. But only Sant'Eustachio enshrines a retro coffee culture. Opened in 1938, the estab- lishment replaced a failing 19th century bar called Caffè e Latte. F o r a m o d e r n l o o k , A l b e r t o Ottolini, the new proprietor, used masonry with ergonomic shapes. The industrial white walls and absence of wooden furniture were novel, but every innovation soon becomes a tradi- t i o n . W h e n R a i m o n d o a n d Roberto Ricci took over in 1999, they kept the hand-cranked cof- fee grinders, black-and white photos, Arte Moderne clock, and semicircular bar. The cups and saucers, stamped with the stag and cross, became popular gifts. For caffeinistas, they are neither souvenirs nor status symbols but relics from a temple. Screens surrounds the bar's espresso machine, like the chan- cel screens separating the taber- nacle in early medieval basilicas. Behind them the high priests of coffee, wearing snappy bow ties and burgundy vests, concoct a sacred brew amid steam and tin- kling spoons. Nobody knows the secret of Sant'Eustachio's Gran Caffé, a double espresso with a creamy h e a d t h i c k e n o u g h t o t u r n a s m o o t h - l i p p e d n u n i n t o t h e Bialetti Man. Some say it is the water from the Aqua Vergine, the aqueduct built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, general and son-in-law of Augustus, which supplies the Pantheon district from a pure spring in the Alban Hills, eight miles east of Rome. According to legend, a maiden d i s c o v e r e d a n d l e d t h i r s t y legionnaires to this site, hence its name Virgin Water. Others credit the mix. San- t ' E u s t a c h i o b l e n d s t h e b e s t imported beans from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, G a l a p a g o s , G u a t e m a l a , a n d Saint Helena and roasts them in an 80-year-old, hand-operated, w o o d - f u e l e d m a c h i n e . T h i s colossal cylinder resembles the brazen bull in which Trajan tor- tured St. Eustace. As the beans r o t a t e , c r a c k , a n d t o a s t , t w o interns from the American Acad- emy's Rome Sustainable Food Project try to reverse-engineer their coffee. What if we add powdered milk to the grinds? W h a t i f w e b e a t t h e c r e a m , sugar, and coffee together? Such vain speculations, fitter f o r S i l i c o n V a l l e y t h a n t h e Seven Hills, amuse the Ricci brothers. The Vatican perma- nently damaged its brand when it substituted Latin with the ver- nacular and made priests face t h e c o n g r e g a t i o n . T h e y w i l l never make the same mistake. Customers prefer ritual and mys- t e r y . A l t h o u g h t h e C h u r c h removed Eustace from the litur- gical calendar in 1969, the faith- ful still celebrate his feast on September 20. The year Joseph Ratzinger became Benedict XVI, pilgrims from Deggendorf worshipped at the Chiesa di Sant'Eustachio and then s topped at the bar. The guide, a member of the Bavarian Forest Club, removed a bottle of Jägermeister from his backpack, showed the regulars the label w i t h t h e c r o s s a n d s t a g , a n d poured a shot in his espresso. Delighted, everyone else ordered t h e s a m e c a f f é c o r r e t t o . I f Ratzinger had partaken of this sacrament, he might not have resigned. P a s q u i n o ' s s e c r e t a r y i s Anthony Di Renzo, professor of writing at Ithaca College. You may reach him at direnzo@itha- ca.edu. ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES Sant'Eustachio Pasquino hunts for coffee Tourists and locals enjoy coffee outside the famous Sant Eustachio Cafe in Rome. Photo: Anna & Michala /Flickr

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