February 2026. Genoa to Monaco.
Four nights in Genoa, never enough, with a final Capricossa from Bacia la Mano.
45 seconds from oven to our room on the second floor of the B & B Hotel at Principe Station.
That pizza oven is a design classic, similar to the Pavoni espresso machine we brought back from Lucca 30 years ago.
Espresso is as important to Italians as cricket football, pineapple on pizza only after 3pm, and deep lyrics in pop songs,
and I was fascinated to see how inflation had affected the price of the iconic “caffè, por favor thanks“. In the smart Mentelocale Bistrot at the station each morning we’d have an espresso, cappuccino and a couple of croissants for about six quid,
even cheaper from Bar L’isola in the middle of the giant roundabout.
Americans seem shaken by these prices, arguing on Reddit that Italian coffee is rubbish, the locals live in squalor and they don’t pay taxes. This is the best reasoned discussion point for the 1,30 euro coffee (capuccico typically only 30 cents more);
Very little beats a quick espresso drunk at the bar with a glass of water, but there was no extra charge in Genoa or Turin for sitting at a clean table, and they all seem to operate with card these days.
And as for quality, I’ve no idea about bean choice but I guess, like hops in beer, the beans are a tiny element of the cost of a cup.
On the train to Monaco, you can see the Lavazza beans producing your 1 euro espresso.
Talking of Monaco, this is the French train that will take us to a rare new European tick (for me, Mrs RM did it years ago).
If what I read is true, a coffee in Monte Carlo will cost over a fiver. We shall see.
retiredmartin 
I thought that bars in Italy had to give receipts which was to prevent tax evasion but perhaps it isn’t properly enforced.
I remember being astonished at the high price of a coffee in St Marks Square in Venice but that’s probably not somewhere that would be cheap
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That’s spot on, Jon, I got a receipt for every purchase, whether 1 euro or 20. And card was even more common than in the UK, although I got rid of a lot of coins just buying an espresso. I find the view expressed by Americans on a certain Instagram account that Italian coffee is cheaper than Starbucks because they’re dodging tax and living peasant lifestyles really offensive. I actually quite like Starbucks coffee in fairness, though their outlets are increasingly a disgrace. You don’t see uncollected cups and unwiped surfaces in Italian cafes.
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Yes I remember this from a travel guide because the police could ask to see the receipt and there would be trouble if the tourist or customer couldn’t produce it.
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I think I’ve seen Lavazza somewhere but not with proper beans.
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Quite possibly in the Titanic bod places, Paul, it’s a common coffee brand in the UK.
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For the first time in ages I was in the Stafford, the original, Bod eight days ago but didn’t notice the coffee. That afternoon was the first time in nineteen years I properly met a friend who went out for a pint or few nearly every Thursday evening for thirty years, the result of by chance being on Stafford railway station the same time as him last autumn. Ten years older than me, he started work in 1961 and will retire next month after 65 years.
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“Four nights in Genoa, never enough, with a final Capricossa from Bacia la Mano.”
Ahem. What was that in the last post about ‘Last Genoa post, I promise’?
“45 seconds from oven to our room on the second floor of the B & B Hotel at Principe Station.”
You can’t get much closer then that.
“Espresso is as important to Italians as (cricket) football, pineapple on pizza only after 3pm, and deep lyrics in pop songs,”
Careful. Full fledged fights has started over less!
“and I was fascinated to see how inflation had affected the price of the iconic “caffè, por favor thanks“. In the smart Mentelocale Bistrot at the station each morning we’d have an espresso, cappuccino and a couple of croissants for about six quid,”
That’s a convoluted (slow golf clap), right?
“even cheaper from Bar L’isola in the middle of the giant roundabout.”
(looks down)
Yep, definitely a (slow golf clap).
“Americans seem shaken by these prices, arguing on Reddit that Italian coffee is rubbish, the locals live in squalor and they don’t pay taxes. ”
Phew! Good thing I don’t frequent Reddit!
(For what’s it’s worth, haven’t been to the States in a few years, but, when I did go, I found their food to be dirt cheap compared to Canada. Mind you, I find beer in Belgian cafes to be dirt cheap compared to Canada. Maybe it’s Canada that’s horridly expensive). 😉
“On the train to Monaco, you can see the Lavazza beans producing your 1 euro espresso.”
That looks like it could power the train!
“Talking of Monaco, this is the French train that will take us to a rare new European tick (for me, Mrs RM did it years ago).”
An actual tick?
(ah, my bad, a Euro tick, not a GBG tick) 🫠
“If what I read is true, a coffee in Mointe Carlo will cost over a fiver. We shall see.”
Ha! Was there in 1980**. Bloody expensive then, so no idea what it’s like now!
Cheers
** – by “there” I mean Monte Carlo. No idea where Mointe Carlo is; and neither does Google Maps. 😉
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Isn’t Mointe Carlo how they pronounce in New Yoike >?
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Touché, my good sir. 😎
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Is decaf a popular thing there – or would they look down their nose at the likes of me?
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That’s a good question, Lana. Decaf is certainly available for home consumption but I didn’t see it asked for or advertised in cafes, where the main point of an espresso is an instant caffeine hit (albeit only a single shot). I once drank 8 espressos in a day of walking Naples hills, stopping every hour for a 60p coffee.
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I feel ill at the very thought of that!
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