Updated 2018
If you’ve been looking for the perfect place to jot down your thoughts and have a cup of famous Italian caffè, jet over to Milan. Last week, the city welcomed its newest coffeehouse: the Moleskine Café. Brought to the streets of the city by the founders of those cute, colorful notebooks, the Moleskine Café hopes to provide a space for the “Café Littéraire” concept to be revived.
The concept encourages the exchange of ideas, socializing with friends and family, the enjoyment of life – all over drinks and good food. With its offering of, not just coffee, but also of books, art and local foods, the café certainly is on its way to ushering the concept into reality. All it needs now are the people.
Located in the artistic heart of the city on Corso Garibaldi, 65 in the Brera neighborhood, the café is dressed in the neutral colors and crisp designs that Moleskine has become known for. Beige geometric tables evenly dot the café space, with pops of jewel tones on chairs and in the artwork bringing the concept together. The café features two levels of seating as well as an airy outdoor space for patrons to create, socialize and, of course, enjoy coffee.
The first ideation of a standalone Moleskine Café was seen in Geneva’s international airport and the Milan café comes as a signal of the airport café’s success. The company’s CEO, Arrigo Berni, hopes that Milan’s Moleskine Café is the first of many worldwide.
“I believe this vision fully reflects the growing interest people show for retail formats that go beyond the sheer act of shopping,” He said in Moleskine’s press release following the July 25 launch of the café. “And I look forward to validating this concept for global expansion.”
The café has partnered with Milan-based coffee roaster Sevengrams and has also commissioned local artists to create the artwork that is featured on the bags used to package the coffee. Patrons can enjoy an eclectic selection of brunch, lunch and small bites to pair with their coffee.
“This is an important new step in our journey to realize the full potential of Moleskine as the ‘lifestyle of the Creative Class’ brand,” Berni said about the café. “Our vision for the Moleskine Café is exciting and unique. We will provide our guests with an innovative retail experience, bringing the socializing dimensions of food, creativity and shopping in one single space, designed to reflect the distinctive, clean aesthetics of Moleskine.”
While we hope to see much more of these clean coffee spaces pop up somewhere nearer to us, we know where we’ll be the next time we’re in Milan!
The Moleskine Café is located on Corso Girabaldi 65 and is open daily 7:30am – 9:30pm daily. You can also find it on Facebook. – Mary Zakheim