A warm, strong scent of fresh Italian coffee welcomes clients to Caffè Dello Sport. It’s an unusual, comforting greeting for a sports bar. At one table, a group of six men banters in a foreign language, as an Italian soccer match plays on the flat-screen TV. To their right, a man sits alone, sighing and sipping his beer at every opposing goal. Near him, two older women chat quietly over coffee. Angelo Cattaneo, whose portrait hangs over the entrance, concocted this vibrant mix 35 years ago. Today, it remains a trusted staple in the North End.
Cattaneo’s family story is one of hard work and dedication, carried on after he died in 2023. His grandson, Mivan Spencer, who took over the business about nine years ago and the founder’s daughter and Spencer’s mother, Ivana Cattaneo, have maintained Caffè Dello Sport’s reputation as a neighborhood, family-owned, authentic Italian cafe.
Caffè Dello Sport recently reopened its doors to the public Feb 5 after some refurbishing and redesigning. “I felt a need to make the space warmer,” said Spencer. While admiring Cattaneo’s brand-new portrait hanging right by the entrance, painted by a local Italian artist, he smiles enthusiastically.
By remodeling, Spencer says he was able to honor his grandfather and his mission to create a place where Italians could feel at home, as well as to introduce Italian food and culture to other visitors. “My grandfather was very passionate about culture, music and sports. He was big on friendships and people,” he adds.
Franco “Sergio” Contino, who hails from Sicily, has been a regular at Caffè Dello Sport for about 45 years, remaining loyal because of the familiarity and comfort it provides him.
“What’s different about it (Caffè Dello Sport) is knowing what you’re getting versus a place that maybe you go to once in a while,” he says. “When it was closed for renovations, I was like a fish out of water. I’m 75 years old and I’ve spent most of my life here. It (the cafe) makes sense. It’s where you’re comfortable.” Contino comes into the cafe seven days a week, sometimes multiple times a day.
Similar to Contino, Jamie Pereira and Christine Pagliuca can’t exactly pinpoint how long they’ve been customers at the cafe. While occasionally glancing at a hockey match playing behind the bar, the childhood friends highlight the similarity between the cafe’s feel and the welcoming atmosphere of the North End, where they’re both originally from. “We all know each other in the neighborhood. The families here know one another,” says Pagliuca, to which Pereira adds, “The service, it’s like family. They’re (the staff and owners of the cafe) all like family. You get to know the people that work here; they’re all really, really sweet.”
Caffè Dello Sport is Anas Hamdi’s coffee stop before work. Without planning, he meets up with his friends at the cafe almost every day to debrief over a soccer match or Formula One race. “This is the meeting point of the Caffè Dello Sport people. The vibe and the people that come here make it feel welcoming,” he says.
As time goes by and regulars and newcomers fill the cafe, Spencer highlights the significance of product quality in retaining his clientele. Italian products are becoming more accessible in recent years, yet Spencer makes sure every client receives the same quality products with every order, especially when it comes to keeping coffee fresh. “That’s why I’m here: quality control. I come in, I check, I make sure everything’s coming out right, that our coffee vendor comes in twice a week and that everyone gets the same type of coffee. Your cappuccino shouldn’t taste different than my cappuccino. They should taste the same,” he says.
Originally from Bergamo, a city northeast of Milan, Cattaneo arrived in Boston in the late 1960s, accompanied by his wife and two children, seeking a more prosperous future for his family. In the initial days of his arrival in the United States, he worked with his brother-in-law, who had moved to Boston beforehand.
As a newcomer, Cattaneo took every opportunity he could get. From working as a draftsman to selling encyclopedias and pots and pans door-to-door, Angelo was always looking for ways to provide for his family. “They came with almost nothing. He was always looking to do his best for them,” says Spencer. Cattaneo landed a job at Alitalia Airlines, where he worked for 20 to 25 years as a cargo agent. Finally, he crossed paths with Caffè Dello Sport and bought it from its previous owners in 1991. A year later, a location across the street became available, where the cafe has remained for the last 34 years.
Spencer describes Cattaneo as a fixture, someone who is hard to forget. As he sat at the first table right by the cafe’s entrance, he watched as newcomers and locals rolled into his cafe. He became a well-known character in the neighborhood, eventually earning the nickname “The North End Mayor.”
“He (Cattaneo) would help out a lot of people. That’s why everybody would go to him,” mentioned Ivana Cattaneo. “He was well known here and really loved by many. He and his friends would come in early in the morning and play cards.” “Whenever someone would come into the cafe asking for him, I would give him a call,” says Spencer. “He would come down from his apartment right across the street to greet them. He always remembered everyone who came in; it was truly amazing.”
Angelo Cattaneo’s hard work and dedication have been passed down to Spencer, who shares his grandfather’s passion and says he draws inspiration from the family’s legacy of commitment. “When I was a kid, I’d be running around cleaning tables or standing at the front with my mother just like a host. My father used to work here, my uncle used to work here and my mother still works here. Seeing a family work together gives the place a mom-and-pop feel.”
Caffè Dello Sport is always buzzing, with customers stopping by for a morning coffee en route to work or a late-night cocktail to celebrate the end of the week. Though the cafe’s look and guests have changed as it ages, one thing remains the same: sports are always being streamed, drawing people walking down the street to join those already inside.
The four televisions that line the cafe’s walls stream any and all sports throughout the day. What started as an Italian-soccer-only cafe slowly shifted over time to a streaming hub for all kinds of games. Over time, demographics have changed and with that, interests have too. “We’ve gone from playing strictly Italian soccer to playing Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, Madrid and Juventus. We play different matches on each TV to have bigger engagement from all kinds of fans. Even F1,” says Spencer.
Both Spencer and Cattaneo highlight the community’s diversity, which includes individuals of all ages and backgrounds, such as Latinos, Italian Americans, Arabs and Albanians. “It’s a little bit of everything, honestly and it’s interesting to see week to week, month to month, how that’s, that’s even that’s changing,” says Cattaneo.
As a devoted fan of Italian soccer and someone well-known to many, Angelo Cattaneo’s love for the game lives on through his cafe. The cafe’s theme, suggested by its name, is not a traditional sports-watching setting; however, it remains authentic to what the average traditional Italian cafe experience is like. “In Italy, you go to a cafe, buy a lottery ticket, a stick of bubble gum or cigarettes. They’re showing sports on TV. They’re making you a hamburger and serving you a beer. It’s everything,” says Spencer. It’s been a challenge over the years to have people understand the concept. But when people figure it out and understand it, they love it. This is a one-stop shop. You get your coffee, you can go watch TV and you can do a little bit of everything. It’s fun.”
Looking ahead, Caffè Dello Sport has a promising future. With the World Cup, the Tall Ships, and America’s 250 birthday all approaching, Boston will serve as a hub for both tourists and locals to celebrate. Spencer plans to make the most of these exciting events. “We have a whole fresh look. I designed the space so my staff can work more easily and pump out drinks and food faster. So it’ll put that to the test. For the games themselves, I expect there to be a line,” He says. “It’s not a rowdy bar, it’s not a nightclub. So it’s nice to have that kind of atmosphere and have fun without the extra added chaos. Even though it’s chaos, it’s controlled chaos.”
This article was produced for BINJ.News, the independent weekly magazine published by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and BINJ’s is syndicated by MassWire news service.
