Caffè Florian
On December 29th 1720 Floriano Francesconi opened a coffeehouse under the arcades of Procuratie Nuove and gave it the name “Alla Venezia Trionfante”, or Triumphant Venice. Initially one of the many coffeehouses in Venice, perhaps because of the outgoing character and flamboyant personality of its owner, the establishment quickly became very popular with intellectuals, artists, and noblemen, who soon took to calling it Florian’s. The name stuck and even today everyone calls it by that byname.
Little did the owner know that those two simply furnished rooms would become the oldest coffee house in continuous operation, a distinction it shares with Café Procope in Paris.
The Oriental Room is adorned with paintings of Giacomo Casa (1827 or 1835-1887), a pupil of the Academy of Venice, who was also responsible for the original decoration of the Apollonian Rooms (destroyed in 1996 and reproduced since) at La Fenice, and the frescoes of the Teatro Verdi in Padua. This « imaginative innovator who sketched and executed his canvas without coming back with a second touch » (G. Possenti) delighted his contemporaries with his charming silhouettes of partially clad exotic women.
The Chinese Room was entirely decorated in a style defined by Locatelli (as for the Oriental Room) as « Pompadour ». Antonio Pascuti (1832-1892) is responsible of the paintings and the ornamental designs. It is to this artist that we owe the famous Chinaman, so prized by Henri de Régnier. This small room has a special quality, as does the Oriental Room. There is a different kind of air, in these rooms, perhaps because they form some kind of a close area between them ; the mirrors on the walls of the tiny passages between the two rooms create the effect of a labyrinth, and your image is reflected back at you countless times as you go from China to Orient.
The Senate Room was painted by Casa who accomplished an ambitious pictorial project, consisting of two large paintings – The Age of Enlightment, or Progress and Civilisation educating the Nations – and eleven panels representing the Arts and Sciences. The overall decorative effect is more dramatic than that of the Chinese and Oriental Rooms. The ceiling here is not made up of geometric panels but is reminiscent of those of the Venetian churches, from Renaissance to the eighteenth century, with its large central painting (Civilisation…) flanked by four medallions. The walls themselves are lavishly covered with paintings and mirrors. In this room Riccardo Selvatico in 1893 came upon the idea of creating an International Art Exhibition known as Biennale d’Arte.
The Room of the Four Seasons, or Room of Mirrors, was acquired with the Room of Illustrious Men and later became for a while the restaurant.
It was painted by Cesare Rota (circa 1848-1885) and it was baptized Room of the four Season for the four female figures representing the seasons.
The Room of the Illustrious Men, acquired and restored thanks to a property act in 1858 and opened in 1872, was decorated with works by Giulio Carlini (1826 or 1830 – 1887), a pupil of the Academy of Fine Arts who specialised in historical and religious subjects, as well as war scenes and portraits.
His striking faces of Palladio, Paolo Sarpi, Francesco Morosini, Benedetto Marcello, Carlo Goldoni, Pietro Orseolo, Marco Polo, Vettor Pisani and Titian alternate with mirrors which are no less impressive. The ceiling was painted with frescoes, probably a little later, by Giuseppe Ponga (1856 – 1925), an artist in favour at the time. The stuccoes were realised by Piazza.
In the magic atmosphere of this room, the Florian style is pleasantly enjoyable together with the ten renowned people who contributed in making Venice well-known all over the world.
The Small Liberty Room, created in 1920, when this style was à la mode in Venice, to celebrate the two hundred years of the Florian, it soon became a storeroom and was not restored and opened to the public until 1986 : the arched ceiling, the hand-painted mirrors, the tables with copper bases, the wooden inlaid flooring and lights from Murano form a warm and harmonious scenery, rather unusual in the heart of the Florian. This cozy and tiny room is often used as exhibition space.
