Giovanni Giotta emigrated from Italy in 1951, took over the Piccola Cafe at 601 Vallejo Street and renamed it for Trieste, the city whose coffeehouses he missed. He imported and roasted the beans himself, and the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was a lifelong regular.
The corner shop at Vallejo Street and Grant Avenue has large windows on both street sides. Framed black-and-white photographs cover the walls under a dark lacquered ceiling, and metal chairs and a table sit on the sidewalk.