Babington's tea room
Babington's tea room is a traditional English tea shop at the foot of the Spanish Steps, in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, Italy. The food is mostly traditional English fare.
History
The shop was founded in 1893 by Isabel Cargill and Anne Marie Babington, two English women, with the intention of catering for the many English-speaking people in Rome. At the time of the founding of Babington's, tea in Italy could be bought only in pharmacies.
Originally the tea room was on Via dei Due Macelli, a sideroad of the Piazza di Spagna, but the establishment's success encouraged the owners to relocate to the Piazza di Spagna itself. It is located on the ground floor of an 18th-century building from which one can see the Spanish Steps, the staircase of the Trinità dei Monti church. Babington's survived two world wars, the advent of fast food and various economic crises, and has become a favourite meeting place for writers, actors, artists and politicians.
The interiors are in the late 19th-century style.
In the entrance hall there is a shop that sells more than a hundred varieties of tea, along with sweets, cups, teapots, umbrellas, pendants, lucky charms and accessories, and the Babington's website offers online sales.
External links
- The official site (Italian), (English)
Coordinates: 41°54′22″N 12°28′56″E / 41.9060°N 12.4823°E