Yes. Here’s an excerpt from “Wystan and Chester,” by Thekla Clark, published by Faber & Faber Ltd. in 1995:
“Evening life in Forio [in the 1950s] was centered on The Café, where The Table was reserved for Wystan, Chester and their friends. The owner of The Caffe was the famous Maria, who rated a column in the national newspapers when she died many years later. Its official name was Café Internazionale, but I never heard it called anything but ‘Maria’s.’ Maria was square, both in body and face, and her hair was shoe-polish black, cut short with a centre parting often showing white on either side—a friend came from Naples every few months to ‘do the colour’. Her caffe was a large, windowless room with two doors, one leading to a side alley and a huge one opening on to the square where the tables were set…”
auden
that the lady standing beside Auden
is the Maria of the poster and
owner of the bar?
Re: auden
“Evening life in Forio [in the 1950s] was centered on The Café, where The Table was reserved for Wystan, Chester and their friends. The owner of The Caffe was the famous Maria, who rated a column in the national newspapers when she died many years later. Its official name was Café Internazionale, but I never heard it called anything but ‘Maria’s.’ Maria was square, both in body and face, and her hair was shoe-polish black, cut short with a centre parting often showing white on either side—a friend came from Naples every few months to ‘do the colour’. Her caffe was a large, windowless room with two doors, one leading to a side alley and a huge one opening on to the square where the tables were set…”