The Argentine capital inherited the Italian and Spanish taste for cafés with large modernist glass windows and wooden tables, converted into centers of social and cultural life. In fact, natives of the city boast that Buenos Aires is “the Vienna of America.”
Symbolic of this tradition is the famous Café Tortoni, the city’s oldest café, which was once the center of literary gatherings. It is now so famous that busloads of tourists are deposited at its door, detracting somewhat from its charm. Nevertheless, it is an almost obligatory pitstop for anyone visiting the city.