The Antico Caffè Greco, an iconic Rome watering hole in the chic Via Condotti a few yards away from the Spanish Steps, was sealed up by police Wednesday and the keys returned to the legitimate owners, the Israelite Hospital, after a long legal battle.
    Before the closure, 300 works, including paintings, sculptures, and valuable antiques, had been seized.

This seizure was prompted by the fact that the owner, according to the prosecution, had removed the objects from their original location in violation of the "strict pertinence to the spaces of the historic building where they were located and were not to be removed." This prompted an investigation that has added to the extensive legal file relating to the well-known café.
    The dispute between the property's owners and the café's operators had been ongoing since 2017.
    When the lease expired, the Israelite Hospital asserted its right to repossess the premises.
    After a legal battle, the supreme Court of Cassation upheld the termination of the lease.
    After several postponements, the eviction was carried out today.
    Thus, the curtain falls on one of the capital's historic establishments.
    A symbol of 18th-century cafés, a gathering place for artists and intellectuals and a hotbed of ideas and schools of thought, Caffè Greco is one of the oldest cafés in Italy, along with the Florian in Venice.
    The historic café, inaugurated at the height of the Enlightenment, has counted illustrious patrons such as Charles Baudeleire, Antonio Canova, James Joyce, Gioacchino Rossini, as well as Sophia Loren, Renato Guttuso, and Federico Fellini.
    For the owners, the story of the famous venue isn't over, and they've expressed their intention to reopen: "The absolute priority will be to reopen Caffè Greco," explains the extraordinary commissioner of the Israelite Hospital, Francesco Leozappa.
    "We will begin work as soon as possible and implement the bankruptcy plan."
   

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