The coffee:

A legend attributes the discovery of coffee to a group of hermit monks in ancient Yemen around the 12th century.

Those shepherd monks, and particularly the most sharp-witted among them, the shepherd Kaldi, noticed that the goats that had been assigned to him for grazing were feeding on the leaves and berries of an evergreen shrub and that, after such a meal, the animals were becoming restless and would not lay down for their daily nap.

After that simple observation he was struck by a new idea: why not use those berries to make a dark, warm and bitter drink that had the same stimulating properties?

When time passed by, the drink, then called "the Wine of the Arabs", spread among Egyptian and Turkish people.

In the second half of the 16th century coffee crossed the oriental borders and reached Europe and particularly Venice, where the first coffee shops were opened.

The first coffee shop opened in Venice in 1640; after that, others followed in different Italian cities: Turin, Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples.

These shops became cultural meeting places for people of all ranks and coffee became a product of great pleasure and an opportunity for entertainment and distraction.

During the 18th century coffee was appreciated by men of culture, and therefore it was called the "intellectual drink"; coffee shops began to thrive all over Europe as they were places where knowledge was spread and news exchanged.

During the 19th century coffee gained popularity and it was not only served in elegant shops but also at the rustic tables of the inns.