Founded in 1817 - Pastry Shop - Confectionery - Via Montenapoleone 8, Milan - Historic Place Watch the Video Presentation

Cova in the Literature - References

“A Farewell to Arms” – original version

With a hint of pride owing to the importance of the references, we would like to point out that Cova is mentioned in several major works by famous writers who, in doing so, have added to the renown of our time-honoured business:

While absorbed in reading, you can ‘make our acquaintance’ in:

  • "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
  • "The First Forty-nine Stories - In Another Country" by Ernest Hemingway
  • "How Many Women" by Enzo Biagi
  • "The Five Days of Radetzky" by Giorgio Ferrari
  • "Coral Red" by Sveva Casati Modignani
  • "History of the moral capital from Bava Beccaris to the Leagues" by Indro Montanelli and Mario Cervi
  • "The little book dedicated to Elisa" by Salvatore Di Giacomo

 

…to name but a few…

vetrina

The window of the Via Monte Napoleone premises dresses for the press event

Although not specifically mentioned in her works, we were delighted and honoured to have played host during the presentation of her two outstanding novels “Chocolat” and “The Lollipop Shoes” to the famous British writer Joanne Harris, who found our anchovy sandwiches and fine pastries exquisite ...

(as a point of interest, Cova is also mentioned at www.wikipedia.it in an entry on the film “Chocolat”)

Our offering of sweet and savoury delicacies at the press conference with Joanne Harris...


 

Notes

Forty-nine stories

by Ernest Hemingway

“In Another Country”

“There were three boys who came each day who were about the same age I was. They were all three from Milan, and one of them was to be a lawyer, and one was to be a painter, and one had intended to be a soldier, and after we were finished with the machines, sometimes we walked back together to the Café Cova.”

“We ourselves all understood the Cova, where it was rich and warm and not too brightly lighted, and noisy and smoky at certain hours, and there were always girls at the tables and the illustrated papers on a rack on the wall. The girls at the Cova were very patriotic, and I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the café girls - and I believe they are still patriotic.”

A Farewell to Arms”

by Ernest Hemingway

"I went everywhere. Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples, Villa San Giovanni, Messina, Taormina--"
"You talk like a time-table. Did you have any beautiful adventures?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Milano, Firenze, Roma, Napoli--"
"That's enough. Tell me really what was the best."
"In Milano."
"That was because it was first. Where did you meet her? In the Cova? Where did you go? How did you feel? Tell me everything at once. Did you stay all night?"
"Yes."
"That's nothing. Here now we have beautiful girls. New girls never been to the front before."

I would like to eat at the Cova and then walk down the Via Manzoni in the hot evening and cross over and turn off along the canal and go to the hotel with Catherine Barkley. Maybe she would…

Chocolat (film 2000)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.

Point of interest:

  • Joanne Harris, the author of the novel on which the film is based, stated that a year after the film's release, she became nauseated by chocolate ("in choc", as she put it) due to the amount and variety of chocolate she was offered during the promotional tour. She went on to say she was saved by the owner of the Café Cova in Milano (where she gave an exclusive presentation of her book) who served her anchovy toasted sandwiches for which Joanne Harris tried to get the recipe.