The reopened cafe Sant'Eustachio in Rome sees very few customers. Like most businesses, Rome's nearly 6,000 cafes have struggled since reopening. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

ROME－Coffee lovers who come to Rome invariably find themselves in the neighborhood around the Pantheon, since nearby streets host some of the city's most-celebrated cafes, including the two best-known establishments: Tazza d'Oro and Sant'Eustachio.

In normal times, visitors to both cafes should expect to stand in line to earn the chance to sample the deep, dark, rich espresso they are known for.

But things look different now, as Italy slowly emerges from weeks of lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

All cafes were forced to close when Italy's national lockdown began on March 10. Some reopened to offer takeaway on May 4, and most reopened for full service－albeit with social distancing and other infection-prevention measures in place－on May 18.

But, like most businesses, Rome's nearly 6,000 cafes have struggled since reopening.

An informal survey conducted by Xinhua News Agency of 30 cafes in seven neighborhoods in Rome showed that while things have slowly improved since May 18, demand is still low.

Owners say they're using, at best, half as much coffee as before lockdown, when they'd brew 2 to 6 kilograms of grounds a day. Each kg produces around 130 to 150 cups.

The drop has been much more dramatic for Tazza d'Oro and Sant'Eustachio. Both say they now go through just 3 to 6 kilograms a day, down from 20 to 30 kilograms before the lockdown.

"A neighborhood coffee bar is in a better position because their business comes from the local residents," Sant'Eustachio's owner Raimondo Ricci says.

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"We are in a beautiful part of the city, but here there are almost no residents. We're being hit by a devastating collection of circumstances. There are almost no tourists in Rome. The schools are closed. All the nearby offices are closed. Even the employees of the Italian Senate, just around the corner, are working from home."

Tazza d'Oro's Laura Birrozzi says social-distancing rules requiring customers to stay at least 1 meter apart also play a role.

"Before the lockdown, we often had a line of customers waiting outside because demand was high," Birrozzi says.

"Now, we still have a line, but only because of social-distancing rules. We can only serve a few customers … at a time. When one customer leaves, we let another one in the door."

Alessandro Cavo, a member of the board of directors for Fipe, an industry group representing the catering and entertainment sectors, says: "It's going to be a challenge for coffee bars to survive under anything close to former levels until the tourists start to return and coronavirus rules are loosened. Even residents are drinking less coffee in coffee bars than before.

"They got into the habit of making coffee at home during the lockdown, and part of the joy of going to a coffee bar is the social side of the coffee ritual－chatting with neighbors and friends. That can't happen when bars can only let two or three people in the door at a time."
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Emilia Sabino, an office worker having a coffee at Normale, a cafe near the Roman Forum, agrees.

"I like going into a neighborhood bar because it's like a snapshot of that neighborhood," Sabino says.

"Now, you go in, and it's just a place to buy a coffee. I'm impatient for it to go back to the way it was before."