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.

Cafe Notturno today still offers the basic food it always has but over the years has extended its menu to the needs of people today. We offer a great all day and night breakfast, traditional pizza, pasta and risotto, steak, fish, salads and many other popular dishes. We offer a large range of drinks including our popular thick shakes, ice coffee and chocolate and authentic Italian soda range. Cafe Notturno has endured the test of time and become a Melbourne icon. It has become a household name in many homes and through several generations. The current owners have created this website so they can interact with patrons and not only give something to them but get feed back and take Cafe Notturno into the next phase and next generation.

We hope you enjoy it, Regards, the Notties crew.............." See you at Notties".