Procopio Cutò: Difference between revisions

Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli
Born	February 9th, 1651 Palermo or Aci Trezza, France
Died	February 10, 1727 Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	French entrepreneur

Procopio Cutò, or Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli was the Sicilian chef who had learned the culinary business as his career trade,^[1] and, billing himself as a modern Procopius founded in 1686 what has become the oldest extant cafe in Paris, Cafe Procope.^[2] It became the first literary coffeehouse. The cafe-restaurant for over 200 years attracted notables in the world of arts, politics and literature.^[3]

Procopio was born near Mount Etna in Sicily around the town of Aci Trezza.^[1][4][5] He received his name of dei Coltelli from the French, who misunderstood his Sicilian family name of Cutò, which is homonymous with couteaux, " knives" in French. Hence, translating back into Italian gives Procopio dei Coltelli the other name he is known by.^[1]

Procopio married Marguerite Crouin around 1675 in the church of Saint Sulpice Crouin. The marriage record shows the witnesses as his parents, Onofrio and Semarqua Sunday. Together they had eight children during their long marriage before Procopio became a widower.^[6]

Growing up so close to the mountain he played in the snow when he was a boy, typical of children worldwide that are in the northern or mountainous regions where there is snowfall. At that time period the snow was mixed with fruit juices and honey to make a type of sorbet. This type of "ice cream" was eaten by both rich aristocrats and by peasants.^[1] This is where Procopio got the idea to develop out gelato. The history of gelato shows Procopio as a most influential person to promote this new food.^[7][8]

Procopio worked first as a fisherman like his father Onofrio. His grandfather Francesco, becoming part of his name, was also a fisherman from Acitrezza. It turned out that his grandfather built sorbet machines part time, when he was not fishing. Francesco eventually left his invention to Procopio as an inheritance. Procopio tinkered with his grandfather's "ice cream" machine making various improvements. Procopio eventually felt that he had developed a machine that would produce gelato on a large scale and decided to promote the new product. He left Sicily and went to France by way of Italy.^[10]

Procopio took up the skills to become a cook, possibly in Florence or Palermo on his trek to France.^[11] Procopio eventually arrived in Paris around 1674.^[11] There he was a distillateur-limonaider and opened up a kiosk, referred to as la loge de la limonade, on Rue de Tournon around then or 1675.^[12][13] He apprenticed under the leadership of Armenian immigrants Pascal and Maliban who had kiosks.^[14] Prior to Procopio arriving in France there were other "cafes/coffee houses" there, however they were not called "cafes" at the time.^[13] Some were referred to as "the site of a lemonade", meaning they sold various cold drinks including lemonade. It seems that the Armenian immigrant Pascal was the first to call his boutique a "cafe" or coffee house where one drinks coffee.^[13] Pascal's attempt at such a business in Paris in 1675 was not successful.^[13] There was also a "cafe/coffee house" in Marseille in 1644 before Pascal and Procope that soon became defunct.^[13] There was an unsuccessful attempt to open a "Levatine" style coffee house "well" in Paris in 1643, however it also failed (En 1643 déjà un Levantin en avait bien ouvert un a Paris,… mais céla n’avait pas réussi).^[13]

Procopio opened his extant cafe in 1686 and it was named "Le Procope", his nickname in French.^[1] It was referred to as an "antre" (cavern or cave) because it was so dark inside, even when there was bright sunshine outside.^[11] Procopio purchased a bath house and had its unique fixtures removed and installed into his new café (i.e. wall mirrors, marble tables), items now standard in modern European cafés.^[15]

Procopio had learned in about 1680 how to make a beverage of ice made of lemonade using salt to lower its temperature and keep cooler longer.^[16] Procopio had a special royal license from King Louis XIV to sell spices, ice drinks, barley water and his improved version of the Italian "ice cream" gelato.^[17] This gave him exclusive rights to these products from his kiosk booth at Foire Saint Germain.^[18] He soon added coffee to his refreshments' list and the kiosk became a coffee house cafe.^[11] He then moved to a larger building where it is presently located on rue de L'Ancienne Comedie. It is the oldest cafe in Paris that is still in business today, over 300 years later.^[19][20]

Procopio introduced the Italian "ice cream" gelato at his cafe and is one of the first to sell this new European product directly to the public.^[21][22] It was served in small porcelain bowls that resembled egg cups.^[23] He is sometimes referred to as "The Father of Italian gelato".^[24] He offered a melange of refreshments including "iced water", Italian Ice, iced fruits, iced creams and strawberry sorbet.^[25]

Procopio opened his café about the same time that the Comédie Française opened their doors.^[4] Conveniently their theater business is located across the street from his cafe.^[4] Procopio's cafe is considered the first true modern coffee house. ^[26] The cafe that Procopio started with serving drinks and food is the oldest Parisian restaurant.^{[26][27][28][29][30]}

Procopio's café and "ice cream" establishment was one of the first in France to serve coffee which attracted many actors, writers, musicians, poets, philosophers, revolutionaries, statesmen, scientists, dramatists, stage artists, playwrites, literary critics and Americans to frequent his establishment.^[4] His café in the 17th century turned France into a coffee drinking society.^[12] It is considered the most famous and successful cafe in Paris.^[23][25][31] To fans of French history Procopio's business is considered the holy grail of Parisian cafes.^[32]

Procopio's café became a very popular cultural and political gathering place.^[5] Certain notable people that frequented the cafe throughout history have been Voltaire, Maximilien Robespierre, Victor Hugo, Paul Verlaine, Honoré de Balzac Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, François-Marie Arouet, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alain-René Lesage, Georges Danton, Jean-Paul Marat, Honoré de Balzac and Denis Diderot.^[1] Even Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Paul Jones, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Napoleon Bonaparte visited Procopio's cafe not only for coffee and intellectual conversations, but for gelato.^[10][11][12] There are words above the door at Procopio's establishment that read: Cafe a la Voltaire.^[4] The birthplace of the Encyclopédie, conceived by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, is said to be at Procopio's café.^[33]

Procopio obtained French citizenship in 1685.^[11] He married a second time in 1696 as an elderly man and fathered five more children with Anne Françoise Garnier. He was married a third time in 1717 to Julie Parmentier and had another son.^[6]

• Albala, Ken, Food in early modern Europe, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 0-3133196-2-6
• Fitch, Noël Riley et al, The Grand Literary Cafes of Europe, New Holland Publishers, 2006, ISBN 1-8453711-4-3
• Moramarco, Stephen, Italian Pride: 101 Reasons to Be Proud You're Italian, Citadel Press, 2000, ISBN 1-5597251-2-5
• Portinari, Folco, Voglia di gelato, Milano, Idea Libri, 1987, ISBN 8-8708211-3-7.
• Ukers, William H., All About Coffee - The Project Gutenberg EBook