Cafe Notturno is a buzzy Italian restaurant on Lygon Street where, as the slogan states, friends meets. Established in the late 1970's, Notturno is known for serving good Italian coffee and homely food in a convivial atmosphere. Open till 3am every day, its the perfect place for a late night catch-up or midnight feast.
Cafe Notturno was established in early 1978. The premises was used by a carpet store as some may remember. It was purchased by an Italian family and transformed into a cafe. The original owner wanted to create something unique, something that Melbourne had not really experienced before and that was a large capacity Italian style cafe that never closed and that’s how the name “Notturno” meaning nocturnal, came about.
The obvious place for this cafe to the Italian family was Lygon St Carlton, with its close proximity to the city and a main thoroughfare to the northern suburbs, where allot of Italians resided. The central position of cafe Notturno on Lygon St has proven successful and has earned its name as a prominent meeting place, hence the slogan “Meet you at Notties” and as our logo states “Where friends meet” Cafe Notturno has had several different owners over the past three decades, but because each team of proprietors have owned it for extended periods they have all left their personal marks and history at Cafe Notturno.
In the early days it was mainly a coffee house, the menu only extended to basic toasted sandwiches and cakes, that’s all people really wanted and they sold tonnes of them. People would come at all hours and in hoards to buy the authentic and morish tasting coffee.
