Caffè Florian
Open since 1720 and once the only coffee house in Venice that admitted women — Casanova was a regular for exactly that reason.
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The café outlasted the Venetian Republic: its original "Venice Triumphant" sign came down the day French troops marched in, May 1797. Goldoni, Byron, Proust, and Dickens all sat here. The 1858 restoration by Lodovico Cadorin gave each room a distinct identity — Senate, Greek, Chinese, Oriental — which defines the interior visitors see today.
What to look for
- The four Cadorin-decorated rooms from the 1858 restoration — Sala del Senato, Sala Greca, Sala Cinese, and Sala Orientale — each with its own named theme
- The Procuratie Nuove arcade on Piazza San Marco, the unbroken address since the café first opened on 29 December 1720
Located in the Procuratie Nuove on Piazza San Marco; the café has operated continuously on this site for over 300 years.
Caffè Florian is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Venice, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Venice pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Venice
- St Mark's BasilicaThe Doge's private chapel turned war-trophy hall — every marble slab and bronze horse was taken from somewhere else.
- Doge's PalaceGovernment offices, a jail, and the Doge's private rooms — all under one Venetian Gothic roof on the lagoon edge.
- Grand CanalVenice's main street is water — a 3.8 km reverse-S where noble families spent fortunes trying to outshine each other in stone and marble.
- Piazza San MarcoNapoleon called it "the drawing room of Europe" — then stripped it of its four horses and shipped them to Paris.
- Rialto BridgePredicted to collapse before it opened, this single-span stone arch has carried Venice's Grand Canal traffic since 1591.
- Bridge of SighsLord Byron named it in the 19th century — condemned men crossing in 1600 took their last look at Venice through stone-barred windows before the cells closed behind them.