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CAFÉ TOMASELLI
- SALZBURG
Mozart’s Favorite Coffee Hangout in Festival City
I
write this sitting in a Starbucks, enjoying a tradition that goes back
300 years to cobblestone streets of Austria. While Vienna is perhaps
more associated with the café culture (see Vienna Traditional
Cafes), lounging and communing with your fellows with a coffee and a
cake as the world goes by, it can be argued - and often is - over a cup
of the black caffeine elixir, that the café style of Europe originated
in Salzburg, the city of Mozart. The advance of invading Turkish armies
was halted to the east of Vienna in the late 1600’s but their strong
black drink of ground beans continued to conquer the aristocracy of Europe,
served in the royal court of the Hapsburgs with the bitter rich taste
complimented with cakes and sweets, until an enterprising entrepreneur
had the idea to offer it street side to the burgeoning middle classes
in the first years of the 18th Century,.
The
Café Tomaselli in the heart of old Salzburg, on the Old Market
Square (Alter Markt), a few minutes stroll from the Festival Spielhaus
and Mozart’s Birthplace (see Mozart
Museums in Salzburg) is claimed
as the oldest café in Austria. Simply called “das Tomaselli” by
the locals, this traditional café is founded in 1705, is regarded
as the oldest continuously serving café in Austria. Curiously
the founding date above the door says 1703, but what’s a quibble
of a year or two, perhaps because it was originally in another location,
but then moved to its prime spot on the market square near the cathedral,
though it didn’t become Tomaselli’s until master coffee maker
and chocolatier Karl Tomaselli took over the location in 1753.
Generation
after generation, the café and upstairs terrace attracted
the best of society. The Café Tomaselli was a favorite spot of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constanze before their move to Vienna
(see Where
Mozart Died). Constanze actually lived in the connected
building above with her second husband Georg Nissen and two children
after moving
back to Salzburg (see Mozart
Graves St Sebastiens Cemetery). You can find a long list
of famous historical figures, politicians, artists, actors and musicians
in the guestbook . Some other
local celebrities who found a favorite table at Tomaselli’s
include Max Rheinhardt, the founder of the Salzburg Festival, Hugo von
Hoffmannsthal,
and Austrian Formula 1 World Champion Nikki Lauda.
It is the place in town to see and be seen, especially during the run of the famous Salzburg Festival when dignitaries and visitors alike enjoy the old-world charm of this coffeehouse. In the warmer months try and score a coveted seat on the terrace, one of the most sought-after relaxation spots in the Baroque city of Salzburg. Relax and enjoy one of the great variety of different kinds of coffee, and make sure to try the homemade cakes and strudels, which are offered by the “cake-maid” a job title unique to this Salzburg café tradition. © Bargain Travel Europe
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SEE ALSO:
HELLBRUNN PALACE TRICK FOUNTAINS
SACHER TORTE AND THE CAFÉ LIFE
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