The American chain is to open its first shop in Milan next year, fulfilling what chief executive Howard Schultz called a 30-year dream.

这家美国连锁店将于明年在米兰开设首家店铺，一偿首席执行官霍华德•舒尔茨(Howard Schultz)所称的30年的梦想。

The long wait before entering the country, despite opening thousands of shops elsewhere across Europe, highlights the stiff competition the Seattle-based company can expect in the home of the espresso.

星巴克已经在欧洲其他国家开设了上千家店铺，但进入意大利却经过了漫长等待，从此可以预见这家西雅图公司在浓缩咖啡(espresso)的故乡将要面临的激烈竞争。

McDonald’s McCafe brand operates in the country, but it remains small in terms of market share. Italy’s distinctive coffee culture is based around independent cafés and bars, which account for nearly 90 per cent of the market, according to Euromonitor.

麦当劳(McDonald)虽然在意大利开设了麦咖啡(McCafe)，但所占市场份额依然很小。据欧睿(Euromonitor)调查显示，意大利特有的咖啡文化基于独立的咖啡馆和酒吧，它们占市场份额近90%。

“The dream of the company always has been to sometime complete the circle and open in Italy, but we haven’t been ready,” said Mr Schultz in a statement on Sunday. His own experiences in Italian coffee bars inspired the Starbucks coffee shop concept, he explained.

上周日，舒尔茨发表声明称：“公司一直梦想着有朝一日能在意大利开设店铺，画下一个完满的圆圈，但此前我们还未准备好。”他表示，正是自己在意大利咖啡馆的体验启发他想出了星巴克咖啡店的概念。

Starbucks is working with Percassi, the company that partnered with Benetton for 30 years, brought Zara to the Italian market and has worked with a string of American brands including Nike, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. It also runs Kiko, a make-up company.

星巴克将与Percassi合作，这家公司与贝纳通(Benetton)合作了30年，曾将Zara带入意大利市场，并与耐克(Nike)、拉尔夫•劳伦(Ralph Lauren)、汤米•希尔费格(Tommy Hilfiger)等一系列美国品牌有过合作。Percassi旗下还有化妆品公司Kiko。

Antonio Percassi, the company’s founder and president, acknowledged the tricky nature of opening a coffee chain in his home market.

Percassi创始人兼总裁安东尼•佩尔卡西(Antonio Percassi)承认在本国市场开设一个咖啡连锁店的棘手性。

“We know that we are going to face a unique challenge with the opening of the first Starbucks store in Italy, the country of coffee, and we are confident that Italian people are ready to live the Starbucks experience, as already occurs in many other markets,” Mr Percassi said.

佩尔卡西说：“我们知道要在意大利开设第一家星巴克店铺将要面对的独特挑战，我们也有信心意大利人民已经准备好体验星巴克的服务，就像其他许多市场的情况一样。”

Starbucks said that “espresso will clearly be star of the show” in Italy, but that it had not yet settled the menu. “We plan to tailor our offerings to the Italian customer in a way that will demonstrate the respect and learning we’ve acquired” in Italy, a spokeswoman said.

星巴克表示“浓缩咖啡肯定会成为意大利店铺的主打产品”，但目前尚未确定菜单。该公司发言人表示：“我们计划为意大利客户量身打造特色服务，以此展示我们对他们的尊重，以及我们所学到的知识。”

Starbucks, which is planning about 1,800 net store openings globally in fiscal 2016, has 21,000 coffee shops across the world. However, there have been bumps on the way, and it has not met with success in every market. In 2008 it closed most of its stores in Australia, leaving just 25.

星巴克计划2016财年在全球开设1800家连锁店，目前它在世界各地拥有2.1万间咖啡店。但店铺数量总是在变化，而且并不是在所有市场都能获得成功。2008年星巴克关闭了澳大利亚大部分店铺，只留下25家店。

Italy is one of the largest consumers of coffee in the EU, which in itself is the largest importer of coffee beans in the world, but being one of the most competitive means Starbucks has a big job on its hands.

意大利是欧洲最大的咖啡消费国之一，其本身就是全球最大的咖啡豆进口国，这意味着星巴克想要进入这个竞争最激烈的市场，将是一项艰巨的任务。