Campaign to save Trieste's iconic Caffe San Marco

In its heyday, the Caffe San Marco was one of the fixed points on the vibrant intellectual map of Trieste, frequented by writers James Joyce and Italo Svevo and poet Umberto Saba.

Decades later, in a world increasingly dominated by quick caffeine fixes and multi-ingredient beverages, the historic Viennese-style coffee house has remained a beloved part of the port city in Italy's northeast.

Now, however, the San Marco faces an uncertain future, and one of its most faithful and prominent regulars, the writer and academic Claudio Magris, has made a public appeal for it to be saved from closure or conversion.

The cafe's former manager Franco Filippi died in December and owners Assicurazioni Generali (AG), Italy's largest insurance company, based in Trieste, are looking for a replacement.

Locals fear that either AG will decide to give up on the San Marco, or new management will be found that has a different vision for the venue.

In an impassioned article in the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Magris, a Trieste-born novelist and cultural philosopher who often works from the cafe, urged the owners to save what he said was a unique place known throughout the world for its history and atmosphere. "A place where you're at peace, you read, you write, you chat," he wrote. "A heart of the city; a strong heart that beats calmly."