Parallels

Parallels has served coffee on Via Pollenzo since 2015, in the old centre of Bra, in a former family sweet shop that Paolo Panero took over and made his own. Specialty coffee leads the menu, with two different single origins each month, served as a double espresso or as filter, from a machine that lights up with the shop's name in the street facing window.

Shelves along the walls hold craft beer, bean to bar chocolate and skateboard decks, so locals, travellers and skaters all pass through. Folding wooden benches outside turn the pavement into part of the room on a dry day, and small plates and vegetarian dishes sit alongside the coffee. It is an easygoing stop in a town known for slow food, with beans to take home.