Milan was home to Starbucks’ first Reserve Roastery in Italy.
The Milan Roastery opened on September 7, 2018, in Palazzo Broggi at Piazza Cordusio. The historic building had previously housed Milan’s stock exchange and main post office, giving the store a setting quite different from a conventional Starbucks café. It was also Starbucks’ first location in Italy and became the first Reserve Roastery in Europe.
Milan was a particularly meaningful choice for Starbucks. Howard Schultz visited the city in 1983 and was impressed by its espresso bars and café culture. That experience helped inspire Starbucks’ later emphasis on espresso drinks, café seating, and the social role of coffeehouses.
The Roastery included roasting equipment, a coffee bar, a wood-fired bakery, an Arriviamo cocktail bar, and a Princi food-service area. Turin, Florence, and Rome have important Italian coffee traditions, but none was the city of Starbucks’ first Italian Roastery.