Cultural marathon to save Rome's oldest coffee bar which opened in 1760.

Caffè Greco, the historic bar on Via dei Condotti near the Spanish Steps, faces closure on 22 October - after more than 250 years in business - following a long-running eviction process.

The dispute dates back to September 2017 when the lease ended, but the current tenants, the Antico Caffè Greco Srl company, have not yet left the premises.

When the story first broke two years ago, local media reported that the owners of the property - Rome's Israelite hospital which has three medical facilities in the city, including its base on Tiber Island - was reportedly seeking to increase the current €18,000 monthly rent to €180,000.

Cultural and historic associations including Italia Nostra, the organisation dedicated to the protection of Italy's heritage, are staging a "cultural marathon" in the days leading up to 22 October, the day of the bar's threatened closure.

A series of cultural events, including music, poetry and theatre, will take place in the bar's Sala Rossa, beginning at 17.00 on 16 October.

Over the centuries the bar has provided a refuge for an eclectic range of intellectuals, writers and artists - many of them foreign - such as Hans Christian Anderson, Byron, Buffalo Bill, Casanova, Goethe, Gogol, Ibsen, Henry James, Keats, Shelley, Stendhal, Mark Twain and Orson Welles.

Memorabilia and mementos of its illustrious clientele cover the walls of the bar which remains on the cultural tourist trail but whose prices don't come cheap.