Caffè Florian

The Caffè Florian is a famous Venetian cafe on the Piazza San Marco. It was opened and preserves much of the 19th century decor on December 29, 1720 under the arcades of the Procuratie Nuove. It is Italy's oldest coffee. Florian was similar to the later coffee houses as a meeting place for artists and intellectuals, but today mainly by tourists.

History

In Venice, coffee was known by merchants from the Ottoman Empire. Since 1638, coffee was sold though, but you could see it more as Medizinalie. 1676, the Senate occupied for the first time to the public serving of the beverage. 1683 was, after coffee had been previously sold only in apoteche, under the new Prokuratien a first coffeehouse in 1700, followed by two more under the New and the Old Magistrates. In London, where the development was something used previously existed around 1700 already at least 2,000 coffee houses, by which is understood simple dispensing sites for the drink.

Café Florian operation of the Family ( 1720-1858 )

1720 followed at the site of today's Florian another establishment. Owner of the premises was the Café Floriano Francesconi animal. He called his Bottega del caffè first Alla Venezia trionfante. It came into use to designate the cafe just after the first name of the owner, so it was soon only " Florian ". It was still a simple dispensing site, but managed to win nobles to visit the house. But the location was ideal, as many councils, including the Grand Council gathered regularly at the nearby Doge's Palace, authorities were sitting in the Magistrates. In addition, do not you copied the simple London coffee houses but the very different kind of Parisian cafes. They offered accordingly additionally food and alcoholic beverages, and let women. In contrast to the London cafes moved to Venice in less commercial transactions and information exchange traders interested in, as the political and philosophical elite of the city. Therefore, the audience came rather to the leading political aristocracy of the city.

Floriano Francesconi nephew Valentino, who took over the cafe after the death of his uncle in 1773, also went officially on the original name. 1775 founded Giorgio Quadri di Corfù on the other side of the square, Caffè Quadri, which is also today. As the last of his family took over Valentino's son, Antonio, from the late 1820s, Florian.

Florian was in the first half of the 19th century to the meeting point of the Italian patriots, during the "Austrian" met in Quadri. 1848 was the Florian one of the centers of agitation against the Habsburg rule.

New owners, reconstruction, expansion (from 1858)

After selling the café in 1858, the new owners Portu Vincenzo, Giovanni and Pietro Pardelli Boccanello carried out a complete and costly redesign of the restaurant. The 'space of senators ' was allegorical murals, which constituted ' science and 'progress', next to it a ' Greek 'and a ' Persian ' salon -like space were created, a Chinese and an oriental room, and a Sala degli Uomini illustri, the restored 2012 been. There arose portraits by Carlo Goldoni, Enrico Dandolo and Marco Polo, Pietro Orseolo, Francesco Morosini, Paolo Sarpi, Titian, Andrea Palladio, Vettor Pisani. The Sala delle stagioni, also called Sala degli Specchi showed four women as representatives of the seasons. There were already about 1860 a room for ladies, in which was not to be smoked. Beginning of the 20th century was added the Sala Liberty.

1893 developed Mayor Riccardo Selvatico with friends at Florian, the idea of an art exhibition, from which emerged the Biennale.

This refinement and extension by two spaces that the architect Ludovico Cadorin transferred the three new owners of the Accademia di belle arti di Venezia is substantially preserved to this day. Around April to September, often there is also a stage in October before Florian, occur on the especially pianists.

Among the famous visitors to the Florian Goethe, Lord Byron, Honore de Balzac, Giacomo Casanova and Marcel Proust were among but also Richard Wagner, Thomas Mann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Jean Cocteau and Jorge Luis Borges.

Today, Florian belongs to the group " Fendi ", a major fashion dynasty.