Today’s adventure began early with a trip to the very first Starbucks in Italy. This location serves not only as a coffee shop, but as a roastery. We entered the magnificent building and immediately filed to the corner of the shop where we received a private demonstration with one of Starbucks’ products for making coffee at home, a glass flask that brewed us a delicious Guatemalan flavor. We enjoyed the sweet coffee, listening to one of the employees explaining the purpose and impact of the first Starbucks in Italy, a country proud and dedicated to its coffee culture. I laughed when he, while explaining the riskiness of the business decision, described Italy as a country that loves coffee and football. We moved on to tour the massive shop, seeing each aspect of the coffee supply chain. Starting with the beans, we saw the grinding process which uses an enormous metal machine that spins thousands of beans in a vat before sending it to the packaging section of the roastery. One of the employees guided my attention to the tubes above the shop transporting the beans from the grinding section to a long conveyer belt to be packaged, similar to something I would expect to see in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. Here, the beans are carefully packed in airtight bags to prevent any outside impurities from contaminating the precious beans. The employees answered our numerous questions regarding the purpose of the roastery, explaining that this Starbucks serves as both a manufacturer and retailer within the supply chain. After the tour finished, I stayed behind momentarily to watch the Italians slowly enjoy their coffee with conversation as opposed to us Americans slugging down 8 cups per day to keep ourselves awake. 

After a few free hours for another lunch by Milan’s Duomo, we moved to the Armani museum. This exhibit presented many of the most famous and elegant of Armani’s designs. Likewise, our tour guide supplemented with many fascinating accompanying facts and stories about Armani himself. Of these, I found the most interesting to be her description of his deep respect, admiration, and friendship of his rival, Versace. When the tour concluded, she finished by quoting Armani saying, “to be elegant is not to be noticed, but to be remembered.” Yet another incredible day in Italy!