{"id":27703,"date":"2026-08-26T18:56:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/non-categorise\/time-for-an-italian-coffee\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T18:56:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:56:58","slug":"time-for-an-italian-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/chronicle\/time-for-an-italian-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"Time for an Italian coffee!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t know about you, but every now and then, I love taking the highway. Just going with the flow, listening to music, watching the scenery go by, and letting my mind wander a little. Sometimes, though, we go too fast. As if the only thing that matters is always getting there. As if saving a few minutes still mattered at all. <\/p>\n

\"260819
Coffee at the counter \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Highway rest area<\/h2>\n

I recently let myself be tempted by a journey that took me to the other side of the Alps, near Aosta, with\u2014further on\u2014that Mediterranean atmosphere that always beckons me. And then I stopped. Not at a trattoria tucked away in the back of a village. Not at a coffee roaster\u2019s that only insiders would pass along to one another. No. At the most ordinary of places: an Italian highway rest stop. I ordered a coffee there. <\/p>\n

You pay at the register, pick up your ticket, and then hand it to the counter. A charming lady is busy behind the machine, and a few moments later, here comes that little cup of coffee\u2014strong, concentrated, almost tiny\u2014with the aromas and intensity we\u2019d come looking for without even realizing it. An espresso. Or, as we\u2019d gladly call it back home, a ristretto. And it\u2019s exceptional. <\/p>\n

\"260819
A coffee machine at Autogrill \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Story About Coffee<\/h2>\n

So, all of a sudden, it\u2019s no longer just about coffee. It\u2019s an entire way of life that we\u2019re starting to see in a new light. All around me, people are stopping. They\u2019re ordering, chatting, and drinking their coffee while standing. I look at the displays of panini, the grissini, this whole little world just a few meters from a highway where everyone was in such a hurry just a few minutes ago. Admittedly, the products probably aren\u2019t of the same quality as those you might find in a grocery store or in an Italian village square. But let\u2019s remember where we are. <\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t want to leave anymore. So I order a second coffee. I savor it. I take my time. For a few minutes, time reappears. I\u2019ll even make a confession: I could have had a third one. Just on principle. Just to prolong that strange feeling of having rediscovered something that our era is constantly trying to make us gain: time. Then it\u2019s time to leave again. <\/p>\n

\"260819
Panini and focaccia \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gallic neighbor<\/h2>\n

The road stretches on and on, eventually leading me to our Gallic neighbors. And there, the contrast is striking. The land of fine dining seems to have put part of its identity on hold the moment you pass through the gates of its gas stations. Major international chains take over: Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Daunat, and other standardized concepts dominate the scene, while mass-produced sandwiches reign behind the display cases. It\u2019s as if, once on the highway, we\u2019ve accepted that mass-market consumer goods and junk food are inevitable. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange, though. France, a global leader in gastronomy, boasts a culinary heritage that the whole world envies. Yet in these places where thousands of people pass through every day, it can sometimes be hard to find even the slightest trace of it. In Italy, even at a highway rest stop, someone will still make your coffee for you. This post isn\u2019t a rant. And it\u2019s certainly not a lecture. It\u2019s simply an observation. <\/p>\n

\"260819
A Culinary Treasure \u00a9Edouard Amoiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Joy of Taking a Break<\/h2>\n

Perhaps we ourselves are out of step with what people really want. Perhaps they want to move quickly, to find the same brands, the same tastes, and the same familiar landmarks wherever they go. Or perhaps we\u2019ve simply ended up making them believe that\u2019s what they wanted. I don\u2019t have the answer. But between a panino<\/em>, a few grissini<\/em>, and two coffees at the counter, I rediscovered, for a few minutes, something I thought I\u2019d come all this way to find. The pleasure of taking a break. And I\u2019m now thoroughly convinced of one thing: in Italy, even a coffee at a highway rest stop is well worth the detour. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All it took was a stop at an Italian highway rest area, an espresso, and a few minutes at the counter to realize what our hurried, standardized world may be leaving behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Time for an Italian coffee! | Restaurant Italy | Edouard Amoiel","description":"All it took was a stop at an Italian highway rest area, an espresso, and a few minutes at the counter to realize what our hurried, standardized world may be lea"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_restaurants-par-lieux":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_style-de-restaurant":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[356],"tags":[],"restaurants-par-lieux":[610],"style-de-restaurant":[],"class_list":["post-27703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chronicle","restaurants-par-lieux-italy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27703"},{"taxonomy":"restaurants-par-lieux","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restaurants-par-lieux?post=27703"},{"taxonomy":"style-de-restaurant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/style-de-restaurant?post=27703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}