Since 1984
La Nostra Storia
A Sicilian family, a Parisian table. The story of Gran Caffè Convivium, at 28 rue Marbeuf.
A tribute to the founder — Giulio Lo Presti
A love story between Sicily, his native land, and France.
Originally from Catania, in Sicily, the Lo Presti family has practised the culinary arts through Gran Caffè Convivium for two generations. At nineteen, Giulio Lo Presti left his family for the Parisian dream. Dazzled by the City of Light, yet missing the scents of his island, he had one idea in mind: to share the flavours of Sicily with France.
In 1984 he opened his first restaurant in Rambouillet. In 1999 he opened a second one on Place Victor-Hugo, in the 16th arrondissement, under the name 'Convivium'. He stayed there some fifteen years, creating a little Sicily surrounded by his Italian team and exceptional produce — above all the wines of his native land, which he chose with a true connoisseur's eye.
Carried by that success, he finally settled at 28 rue Marbeuf, in the 8th arrondissement, where Gran Caffè Convivium became a landmark of Italian dining in Paris.
A heritage carried on
Taste, refinement, and the pleasure of receiving.
Giulio Lo Presti passed on to his family a taste for refinement and an unwavering care to welcome every guest with the same attention. Since then, the next generation has followed in his footsteps and upholds those values in his memory, with a single guiding principle: that the restaurant remains a house where guests are received like family.
That legacy is read first on the plate. The recipes that made the house are still there on the menu, and the tiramisù, like the desserts signed with the name of the house, is still shared around the same table.
It is read in the dining room, too. Many of our guests have been coming since the Place Victor-Hugo days, some with their children, who are now regulars in their own right. We know them, we know their table, their wine, their dessert. Perhaps that is the true inheritance: a house where you feel expected.
From Catania to rue Marbeuf, the story is still being written every day, from breakfast until the heart of the night, around one idea: the table as a place of sharing. That, quite literally, is what Convivium means.
What drives us
Sicilian at heart. Parisian in spirit.
- Italy
- A cuisine of fine produce and generosity, faithful to gestures handed down from table to table.
- Etna
- Near Catania, the volcano nurtures vines, olive groves and citrus of rare character, meeting the island's maritime life.
- Paris
- 28 rue Marbeuf, in the heart of the Golden Triangle. Parisian elegance as the setting, Italian warmth as the soul.
- Hospitality
- Receiving guests is an art. Attentive welcome, precise service, the pleasure of seeing people linger.