Not yet…

If you ask most people in Rome, they’ll tell you that they hate Starbucks. The entire ethos of the place is anathema to the Roman idea of cafe (“bar” in Italy) as mom-and-pop run community hub, a place to exchange news, views, and gossip, as somewhere to go for a quick slurp of tiny, inexpensive, but super-high quality coffee then to be on your way. Even though its Seattle-based founders were inspired by the cafes of Milan, with its huge cups, syrupy concoctions, burned coffee, lingering customers, overpriced cakes, impersonal atmosphere and minimum-wage staff, Starbucks is everything that Italian coffee culture isn’t.

That said many visitors to Rome, tourists and digital nomads alike, do crave the ability to sit for a few hours at a table, use the cafe’s wi-fi, and work, something that most regular bars in Rome don’t offer. Many English speakers mean this when they ask if there’s a “Starbucks-type place” nearby – but be very careful when using this particular shorthand, lest you find yourself on the receiving end of a highly colorful Roman telling-off!

There was also talk that Rome’s first two actual branches of Starbucks would be opening in May 2018 (at Termini Station and Piazza di Spagna). Nothing has happened yet, though a rather beautiful branch has indeed opened in Milan since then. When it comes to Rome we predict howls of protest, followed by huge lines of local people simply desperate to get their hands on a skinny venti vegan decaf soy chai latte with French hazelnut syrup boasting 3,000 calories.