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Famous Cafés Florian | Quadri
Famous cafés and the coffee tradition in Venice
Venice’s cafés have a long tradition and first appeared precisely with the coffee!It was in Venice that coffee was first drunk in Europe.
Café Florian This was a relatively straightforward task for Venice, which had discovered it in the East.
The earliest writings that can be found relating to coffee are by Francesco Morosini, who was Baile in Constantinople between 1582 and 1585.
And we know that it was sold in Venice but as a medicinal plant in 1638.
It took a little longer for people to realise that coffee was more than just an apothecary’s remedy, and it was not until 1683 that the first café opened in the Procuraties Nuove – to be precise, a “Bottega da Caffè”.
One of Venice’s most famous cafés is the Café Florian, a legendary Venetian venue for several centuries now.
Just imagine, the Café Florian dates back to 1720!
Café Florian And if you’d like to buy genuine Venetian coffee, traditionally roasted in Venice, don’t miss Girani coffees ➤
George Sand wrote from Venice (following their separation) to Alfred de Musset, on 15 April 1834 :
“In the meantime, I’m trying to regain my taste for work. I smoke pipes forty toises long.
I spend twenty-five thousand francs a day on coffee.”
Coffee was indeed quite expensive at the time, as George Sand confirms in The Story of My Life:
“Coffee is indispensable in Venice. Foreigners fall ill there mainly because they are put off by the necessary regime, which consists of drinking black coffee at least six times a day.
[…] Coffee was therefore a costly commodity, and people had to start restricting their consumption.”
George Sand
But bear in mind, the Venetians drink ‘stretta’ coffee, that is to say, strong coffee.
Café Quadri in St. Mark This means you’ll have about 1 centimetre of coffee at the bottom of your cup.
It tastes very strong and is better for your health!
According to experts, the more the coffee is diluted with water, or, if you prefer, the more water that passes through the filter containing the coffee, the more caffeine your coffee will contain.
This means that a café stretta contains less caffeine than a café longo or a café americano, as we call these coffees here for foreigners!
“As we’ve already mentioned, the coffee is excellent in Venice; it is served on copper trays, accompanied by a glass, the enjoyment of which occupies the Venetians’ leisure time for hours on end.”
Théophile Gautier - Italia 1855
Cafés were a true institution in Venice and in the 18th century there were 200 of them in and around St. Mark’s Square, with more than 20 in the square itself.
Only three major cafés (caffè in Italian) remain on St. Mark’s Square: the Florian, the Quadri and the Lavena.
Famous Cafés Florian | Quadri
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