Barista for 67 years

Cappuccino after noon? Grandma Anna (100) says …

In November, Nonna Anna, or Grandma Anna, as everyone here calls her, turned 100.

(Bild: Christoph Sator / dpa / picturedesk.com)

Even at the age of 100, Anna Passi still stands behind the coffee machine at her small café in Nebbiuno every morning. Italy's oldest barista has clear opinions - both on cappuccinos in the afternoon and on doctors: "You don't have to believe everything the doctor says!"

She has been opening her "Bar Centrale" in the small village of Nebbiuno on Lake Maggiore at seven o'clock on the dot since 1958 - 365 days a year. "Why should I stop?" says the sprightly Italian. She officially retired at the age of 60 - in 1984. "My bar is so much more than work for me. It's my life." She is also at the machine on Sundays and public holidays. "People want to drink their coffee at Christmas too."

She thinks a lot of Italian coffee traditions. "Some people order a cappuccino in the afternoon," says Anna and smiles. This is nothing unusual in Austria. In Italy's more than 130,000 bars, however, this is frowned upon in many places: "There, cappuccino is usually only served in the morning. But who am I to tell my guests when they have to drink which coffee? I also have regulars who like to have a cappuccino after twelve," says Passi. "And they get it too - no matter what time it is."

And yet "Nonna Anna" (Grandma Anna), as everyone in the village calls her, has two restrictions: she doesn't like cappuccino in combination with orange juice or immediately after lunch. "It fills the stomach too much."

This no longer affects her anyway: the centenarian stopped drinking coffee back in the mid-seventies - because of her blood pressure. Her health? She doesn't need glasses, but she does need a hearing aid - but that supposedly never works. "I only take half a tablet a day - you don't have to believe everything the doctor says!"

The pink sign outside the café bar reads "La barista più longeva d'Italia" (translated into German: "The oldest barista in Italy works here")

(Bild: Christoph Sator / dpa / picturedesk.com)

But the business is not easy. The number of Italian café bars has shrunk by 20,000 in the last ten years. Young people shy away from the long working days and low wages. And "Nonna Anna" doesn't earn much money either. A coffee costs 1.20 euros, a cappuccino 1.50 euros. If there are no tourists, she has no more than 40 euros in her till on some evenings. Her pension is 590 euros. Nevertheless, Anna perseveres. Togetherness is what counts for her.

Sometimes her daughter Cristina, who works diagonally opposite in the town hall, helps her out. The 61-year-old also lives directly above the bar, in the apartment next door. Her son lives 75 kilometers away in Milan, and her two granddaughters are already out of the house. So even at the age of 100, the old lady does most of the work herself from morning to night. She even chops the wood for the small stove herself. "People used to talk to each other and play cards here. Today, everyone just looks at their cell phones," she says wistfully.

She is known in the village as "Nonna Anna" ("Grandma Anna"): the 100-year-old has been serving coffee and joie de vivre for more than 65 years.

(Bild: Christoph Sator / dpa / picturedesk.com)

Italy's oldest barista no longer has any big plans. "I used to want to go to Paris again. But that's probably not going to happen," she says. And adds mischievously: "That's not a bad thing: the French don't know coffee anyway."