Café Procope

The Café Procope wears a faded crimson facade on the Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie. This narrow building claims the title of the oldest café in Paris, opening its doors in sixteen eighty-six. Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli introduced Parisians to coffee here, drawing figures like Voltaire, who reportedly drank forty cups a day mixed with chocolate. Benjamin Franklin also frequented these wooden benches while negotiating the Treaty of Paris, leaving behind the heavy inkwell that still rests near the entrance today.