The South Village's Infamous Caffe Reggio

Next year will be the 100th anniversary of Caffe Reggio, the famed hangout of Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsburg,  Dylan,  Baez, and even Elvis.

 

Back in 1927, it began as a Barbershop that specialized in 10 cent shaves, when customers kept requesting coffee,  so owner Domenico Parisi realized that a shave took twenty minutes and it only took a moment for a coffee.  He sent his entire life savings to Italy ($1000) to purchase an espresso machine made in 1902, it was the first of its kind with ornate chrome and bronze exterior,  a beauty of both exquisite design and engineering. 

 

Today, you can drop by for a cappuccino, with a side of Renaissance Art,  Reggio boasts dramatic 16th century paintings from the school of Caravaggio, and has a bench from a palazzo of the Florentine Medici family. The bench is not roped off and guests can sit on it and absorb old world charm, similar to what you’d see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

Reggio may be most famous for the films shot there including the Godfather Part II and Serpico with Al Pacino, Shaft, The Next Man, In Good Company and several more. 

 

So come by and see the historic expresso machine and Fabrizio Callavicci, whose family has overseen the cafe for decades.