Visit Bar della Pace to show your solidarity

The campaign to halt the impending eviction of Bar della Pace has stepped up a gear after being taken to the city council on 6 March.

Following a meeting between deputy mayor Luigi Nieri, councillors and the president of the Botteghe Storiche association, a motion to save the historic bar is to be discussed by the city parliament.

The closure of the bar needs to be “avoided at all costs" according to the assembly's vice president Franco Marino who said that "To combat the abandonment of historic shops we will actively support every effort to find a quick and reliable solution to defend this meeting place of Romans, artists and the many travellers who arrive in the eternal city.”

Emphasising the need to "defend this activity, which is not only commercial, but cultural" Botteghe Storiche president Guilio Anticoli invited everyone to take a coffee at Bar della Pace where they can "breathe the atmosphere of the dolce vita that can still be felt magically among those tables."

The threat of eviction has loomed over the celebrity bar since 2009 when its landlord, a nearby German religious insitution, failed to renew the lease, leading to a series of disputes in court.

A judge recently ruled in favour of the landlord, the Istituto Pontificio di S. Maria dell’Anima, leaving the family that has run Bar della Pace for over 40 years with fading hope of saving their historic bar from being, reportedly, turned into a hotel.