As Naples prepares to welcome the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, perhaps there is no better way to begin discovering the city than over a cup of coffee. Here, coffee has long set the rhythm of daily life, but its meaning goes far beyond what is served in the cup. It is a daily ritual, an opportunity to connect, a habit so deeply embedded in the city’s culture that it has found its way into literature, theatre and music.
Luciano De Crescenzo described coffee as an “excuse” to spend time with someone. Eduardo De Filippo gave it one of the most memorable moments in his theatre in Questi fantasmi!: Pasquale Lojacono prepares coffee on his balcony using the traditional Neapolitan coffee pot, the cuccumella, turning an everyday gesture into a small ritual to be shared with his neighbour. And in 1977, Pino Daniele chose ‘Na tazzulella ‘e cafè – a little cup of coffee – to portray, from a far more bittersweet perspective, the contradictions of his city.
It is within this long relationship between Naples and coffee that one of its most distinctive traditions can also be found. The caffè sospeso – a coffee paid for in advance for a stranger who will come along later – is a simple gesture, but one that captures something profoundly Neapolitan: an instinct for sharing. And perhaps this is exactly the kind of welcome to expect from Naples when the America’s Cup comes to the city.
Here, hospitality is not a formal gesture. It is part of everyday life: an invitation to sit down, something brought to the table to be shared, a conversation that begins almost by chance. And, very often, a coffee.
The caffè sospeso is one of the simplest expressions of this spirit. Someone walks into a café, orders two coffees but drinks only one. The second remains “suspended”, already paid for and waiting for whoever may come in later and ask for it.
The two people never need to meet. No thanks are expected. It is a small, anonymous and immediate gesture: someone has a little more to give that day and chooses to leave something behind for somebody else.
Treccani also describes it as a custom of Neapolitan origin. Its precise beginnings are not documented with certainty, but it is the meaning the tradition has acquired over time that makes it so representative: sharing something with a stranger, without knowing who they are and without expecting anything in return.
It is a tradition that could probably only have grown around coffee, in a city where coffee has never been simply a drink.
In Naples, an espresso marks the rhythm of the day. It is drunk quickly at the counter on the way to work, offered to guests as a gesture of welcome, or becomes the simplest excuse to spend a few more minutes together. “Let’s have a coffee” rarely means only drinking what is in the cup. It is an invitation to stop, talk and share a moment.
Naples is a city where much of life is lived together. Food is placed at the centre of the table. Streets, squares and neighbourhood shops are not simply places to pass through, but part of the city’s social fabric. Conversations easily draw others in, and the boundary between private and public space often becomes less distinct.
For a city with such a symbiotic relationship with the sea, exchange has always been part of its story. For centuries, Naples has looked out across the Mediterranean, welcoming people, influences and traditions while continuing to preserve a character that remains instantly recognisable.
Perhaps this is why the caffè sospeso can tell a story that goes far beyond the tradition itself. Its meaning lies not so much in the value of a cup of coffee, but in the idea it represents: sharing what you have, even if only for a moment, with someone you have yet to meet.
During the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, this culture of welcome will extend to visitors arriving from all over the world. The experience will not end on the racecourse, but will continue along the waterfront, in cafés and restaurants and through the city’s neighbourhoods, in the everyday encounters that allow visitors to discover Naples beyond its best-known landmarks.
And coffee will naturally be part of that story.
Founded in Naples in 1963 by the Rubino brothers, Kimbo was created with the ambition of taking the Neapolitan coffee tradition beyond the city’s borders. Over the years, that journey has transformed a deeply local habit into an experience recognised around the world.
Today, as the Official Coffee of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup 2027, Kimbo brings that same identity to one of the world’s most international sporting events, accompanying teams, athletes, partners and guests on the road to Naples 2027.
It is a connection that also says something about the city hosting the competition: deeply rooted in its traditions, yet always open to exchange and to encounters with those arriving from elsewhere.
Because in Naples, welcome is expressed above all through everyday gestures: a place at the table, a conversation that begins almost by chance, something to share. Small gestures through which the city continues, every day, to open itself to others.
