Open since 1911, Bar Jamaica is the closest thing Brera has to a living memory of its bohemian heyday. In the decades after the war it became the meeting point for the artists studying at the Accademia next door — Lucio Fontana, Cassinari, and Morlotti all had their tables here — along with the journalists, writers, and film people who drifted between Brera's galleries and the nearby newspaper offices. The walls still carry the residue of that era: changing exhibitions of painting, photography, and ceramics hang alongside the bar.
It works at any hour. Coffee and a toast in the morning, an aperitivo crowded onto the pavement tables in the evening, the same dark wood counter throughout. Order a Negroni or the house specialty, and take the seat by the window if Brera's antiques sellers are setting up for the third-Sunday market outside.