The oldest historic café still active in Italy and among the oldest in the world, it was inaugurated on 29 December 1720 in Piazza San Marco in Venicewith the name of “To Triumphant Venice“, but was immediately called “Florian“, from the name of its owner, the beloved Floriano Francesconi. The idea of opening a place where a drink that is still uncommon in Italy, coffee, coming from Arabia is served to the public, was born not by chance in Venice, a city at the crossroads of cultures, including gastronomic ones, from all over the world.
The Caffè Florian, still open today and in full operation as a historic venue, has always been a crossroads of meetings between illustrious men of art, culture and politics, including Mozart, D’Annunzio, Hemingway, Warhol and many others. Strategic decisions were made in its rooms, including the proclamation of the Republic of San Marco in 1848, and the ideas of intellectuals from all over the world were contaminated: right here, in 1895, the idea of create the art biennial to honor King Umberto and Queen Margherita.
The opening of the Caffè Florian in Venice, its birth in 1720
On 29 December 1720, in Venice, Floriano Francesconi opened a public place, open to all – even women, at the time banned from public places that were not libertine – where meet up, eat something and above all drink coffeea drink that arrived in Venice from Arabia. The name with which the café was inaugurated was “To Triumphant Venice“, but the customers simply said, to meet there, “we’re going to Floriàn” (strictly with the emphasis on to!), named after the owner Floriano.
From here, right from the start, the place was called simply by the locals, “The FlorianThe success of this place with refined furnishings, initially composed of an entrance and the Chinese Room, to which the Senate Room and the Oriental Room will be added, with mirrors, fabrics, chandeliers, paintings and hanging paintings, is immediate: frequented by Italians and foreigners, it was immediately a popular destination for illustrious figures from the world of art, politics and society as a whole, including Casanova, whose ghost (so it is said) still populates the rooms of the Café. Carlo Goldonhe declared that he was inspired by Floriano Francesconi to create the character of Ridolfo, owner of the “Coffee shop”, one of his most important comedies, composed in 1750. Rodolfo was an upright, honest and kind-hearted man, a hard worker: we can imagine that the character of Floriano Francesconi, given the important tribute, was the same.
In 1773, when Floriano died, the property passed to his nephew, Valentino Francesconiwhich will become famous with the nickname “very famous sir Valentin”: in the years in which Valentino managed the place, the Venetian Republic fell. An era was over and so, in 1797, Valentino officially changed his name from “To Triumphant Venice” to “Florian coffee”.
The oldest coffee shop in Italy still open: from the 19th century to today
Although the glories of the Serenissima were over, the celebrity of the Café founded by Floriano Francesconi was not: upon Valentino’s death in 1814, his wife Chiaretta became the owner of the Café, and then his son Antonio Francesconi. It was precisely under his ownership that Caffè Florian became a meeting place for Niccolò Tommaseo, Daniele Manin, Pietro Buratti and Silvio Pellico, who led to the Venetian revolution of 1848 which will allow Venice to be free of Austrian rule, just for one year! There new Republic of San Marco it was proclaimed right in the rooms of the Florian, which also hosted soldiers and civilian patriots injured during the clashes.
Furthermore, in 1895, the idea of create the art biennial to honor King Umberto and Queen Margherita. From this moment until 1920, the Florian would change owner and continue to expand, with the creation of other rooms (the Hall of Illustrious Men, the Hall of the Seasons and then the Liberty Hall) and the renewal of furnishings and decorations, until it became the wonder it is today.
The famous exploits that have the Caffè Florian as their theater did not end here: both during the First World War and during the Second, remained open as a sign of resistanceand a famous photo shows a waiter serving two cups of coffee to two ferrymen during the record high water of 4 November 1966.
The illustrious guests of the Florian, from Mozart to Coco Chanel: the names in the signature book
It really seems that the whole world ofart, culture, cinema and politics passed by Florian.
In the signature book we read the names of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Mann, Lord Byron, Ernest Hemingway, Gina Lollobrigida, Amedeo Modigliani, Marcello Mastroianni, Giorgio De Chirico, Paul Newman, Grace Kelly, Charlie Chaplin, Andy Warhol, Coco Chanel, Clint Eastwood and many others others.
Today, the Florian is mostly frequented by tourists, but continues to be a point of reference in the city, witness to the history of our country, which goes far beyond its splendid rooms.
