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Believe it or not, Starbucks' opening in Italy is a tall order

If you claim to know some Italian just because you can communicate with a Starbucks barista, you're in luck.

You might soon be able to put that language skill to good use in Italy.

Starbucks announced Sunday that it is opening a location in Milan in early 2017. The Seattle-based coffee chain's new venture into Italy is in partnership with Italian developer Percassi.

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You could say the Starbucks concept was conceived in Italy. CEO Howard Schultz visited Milan and Verona on a business trip in the 1980s and decided to bring the espresso drinks to the U.S. It gave millions of us reasons to use the words grande, venti and trenta in casual conversation.

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Or with:

In fact, Dr. Evil's company invested in Starbucks and became a threat for world dominance -- oh, wait,  that's not a fact; it was a movie.

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As they are here, Starbucks locations are all over Europe. Starbucks invaded the U.K. in 1998 and there are about 2,400 stores in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

But can the concept work in Italy where coffee stops are different?

In Italy, most shops provide Italians with a quick espresso. In a Starbucks, you can hang out, grab a newspaper, tap into the Wi-Fi, buy a tumbler or a mug, maybe just chill.

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Can Starbucks elbow its way into that kind of coffee culture? It's a trenta challenge (See what I did there?)

"We know that we are going to face a unique challenge with the opening of the first Starbucks store in Italy," said Percassi President Antonio Percassi, in a prepared statement.