Caffè Vittoria is an Italian
cafe
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
located on Hanover Street in the
North End neighborhood of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
, United States. The cafe features four levels, three liquor bars, and a cigar room.
History
Caffè Vittoria was established in 1929 as the first Italian cafe in Boston. It is located in the North End, the center of Boston's
Italian population. In 1995, the owners opened a
cigar bar in the basement called Stanza dei Sigari (English: Cigar Room). As of 2014, Stanza dei Sigari is the last surviving smoking lounge in the city of Boston. According to a few food review sources, Caffè Vittoria has some of the best hot chocolate and cappuccino in the United States.
Many celebrities and politicians frequent the North End hotspot for "Boston's best cappuccino and cannoli".
On March 13, 2013, Caffè Vittoria was featured in an episode of the television show
Syfy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
's
Haunted Collector
''Haunted Collector'' is an American television reality series that aired on the Syfy cable television channel. The first season premiered on June 1, 2011, and ended on July 6, 2011. The series features a team of paranormal investigators led by ...
. They interviewed the owners' son,
David Riccio Jr., who submitted a video stating how some of his employees and customers were scared to be in the cigar bar due to
paranormal activity. In the episode,
John Zaffis
John Zaffis (born December 18, 1955) is a paranormal researcher born and based in Connecticut, United States. He starred in the SyFy paranormal reality TV show, ''Haunted Collector'', and runs the Paranormal and Demonology Research Society of New ...
and his team investigated the establishment, and discovered that the property at 292 Hanover Street once housed a
baby farm. This particular baby farm was run by a woman named Ms. Elwood, who apparently abused and even killed some of the infants that were left there. The team also discovered a
syringe
A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...
from the 1870s buried within the building's foundation. After they removed the syringe from the property, the paranormal activity in the building ceased. The
Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...
also dedicated its cover page to the story.
Menu
Caffè Vittoria serves a variety of
Italian delicacies, such as
cannoli,
tiramisu, and
biscotti
Biscotti (; ; en, biscuits), known also as cantucci (), are Italian almond biscuits that originated in the Tuscan city of Prato. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, crunchy, and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo.
Name
...
. They also have
gelato
Gelato (; ) is the common word in Italian for all kinds of ice cream. In English, it specifically refers to a frozen dessert of Italian origin. Artisanal gelato in Italy generally contains 6%–9% butterfat, which is lower than other styles o ...
, Italian-style ice cream with flavors such as
spumoni
Spumone (from ''spuma'' or "foam"), plural spumoni, is a molded gelato (a lower-fat Italian form of ice cream) made with layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruits and nuts.
Typically, it is of three flavors, wi ...
and
Biscuit Tortoni
Biscuit Tortoni is an ice cream made with eggs and heavy cream, often containing chopped cherries or topped with minced almonds or crumbled macaroons. It is believed to be named after an Italian café owner in Paris in the 18th century.
The dis ...
. The cafe serves sorbets in the summertime. Other desserts include
rum cake and
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
ganache.
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
,
hot chocolate,
sciroppi, and
espresso
Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and ...
are also staples of the cafe. Espresso comes plain, or as
cappuccino
A cappuccino (; ; Italian plural: ''cappuccini'') is an espresso-based coffee drink that originated in Austria and was later popularized in Italy and is prepared with steamed milk foam (microfoam).
Variations of the drink involve the use of cre ...
,
caffè latte
Caffè latte (), often shortened to just latte () in English, is a coffee beverage of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as ma ...
,
caffè corretto
Caffè corretto (), an Italian caffeinated alcoholic drink, consists of a shot of espresso with a small amount of liquor, usually grappa, and sometimes sambuca or brandy. It is also known (outside Italy) as an "espresso corretto". It is ordere ...
,
caffè macchiato
Caffè macchiato (), sometimes called espresso macchiato, is an espresso coffee drink with a small amount of milk, usually foamed. In Italian, '' macchiato'' means "stained" or "spotted", so the literal translation of ''caffè macchiato'' is "s ...
, and
latte macchiato. Around the cafe are displayed old-fashioned
espresso machine
An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. The first machine for making espresso was built in ...
s.
See also
*
List of Italian restaurants
This is a list of notable Italian restaurants, which specialize in the preparation and purveyance of Italian cuisine:
* Amato's
* Bella Italia
* Beppi's Restaurant
* Buca di Beppo
* Carrabba's Italian Grill
* Cibo Espresso
* Drago resta ...
*
History of Italian Americans in Boston
References
External links
*
Stanza dei Sigari website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caffe Vittoria
Italian-American culture in Boston
Italian restaurants in the United States
North End, Boston
Restaurants established in 1929
Restaurants in Boston
1929 establishments in Massachusetts