Author: paris-bistro

The history of Paris is partly written at the counters and in the back rooms of its cafés and cabarets. From the medieval taverns to the elegant cafés of the Lumières (without forgetting the guinguettes of the old regime or the revolutionary clubs like the Procope), the place of cafés in Parisian society hasn’t stopped evolving over time. But would Paris be Paris without its cafés? Degas, Manet, Monet and Renoir, all these impressionists met in the popular cafés of Montmartre. Would Saint Germain des Prés and Montparnasse be as gloriously well known and have the ability to reunite so…

It is said to be the oldest café of Paris. It was in 1684 at 13 rue de l’Ancienne Comédie (formerly rue des Fossés Saint Germain) when Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli opened the Café Procope. This is the oldest café in Paris, and when you enter this grand café and marvel its large chandeliers and mahogany and pine furniture you can feel the atmosphere of three centuries of history. The Café Procope was the birthplace of all of the intellectual upheavals that shook Paris. Great men made, and still make (along with great women), Procope a magical place. Procopio,…