The World's Oldest Coffee House And Its Social Importance

A few days ago I came across an article about the world's oldest coffee house, which happens to be in Europe, in Florence, Italy to be more precise and after reading it made me think about those times and the evolution of coffee houses in time.

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The name of this prestigious coffee house is Caffè Florian, it is situated at St. Mark’s Square, and it's the world's oldest coffee house. This year it's going to celebrate its 300th anniversary. I believe it's amazing to have a building, a business that is running for 300 years.

Centuries Ago

This wonderful news made me thinking of those times and of what a coffee house meant back in those days. Unlike today, 300 years ago a coffee house meant a place for people to meet and discuss different matters, in other words, to socialize. These people were usually intellectuals, very often or most of the times writers, bankers, teachers, artists and so on. They met at a coffee house to find out the latest news and to make contact with people. Information was traveling in a very different way back then. There was no phone, no TV, no internet, basically the only way to learn something was to meet people and to read the newspaper.

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Newspapers were available at these coffee houses and people, mostly or exclusively men were passing to each other the newspaper after reading it. There were newspaper holders made of wood as the size of one was very different from what we have today.

Style

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One of the advantages of having some old coffee houses like this is that we can see and experience what life was like in those days. As you can see on the photo above, the room was very nicely decorated. At the beginning it has only two rooms but in 1858 it was completely restored by the owner Lodovico Cadorin. This restoration was much needed because the rooms were not restored since the 18th century. The best artists at the time were asked to contribute.

Over the years more rooms were added and each room had a different theme.

The Sala del Senato (Senate Hall), Sala Cinese (Chinese Hall), Sala Orientale (Oriental Hall), Sala degli Uomini Illustri (Hall of the Illustrious Men), Sala delle Stagioni (Hall of the Seasons), Sala degli Specchi (Hall of Mirrors), Sala Liberty, these are all from the coffee house.

The Sala degli Uomini Illustri (Hall of the Illustrious Men) was decorated by Giulio Carlini with paintings of ten notable Venetians: Goldoni, Marco Polo, Titian, Francesco Morosini, Pietro Orseolo, Andrea Palladio, Benedetto Marcello, Paolo Sarpi, Vettor Pisani and Enrico Dandolo. source

You can imagine what the cultural value of this place is. You go in to have a coffee or something sweet as they are serving all kinds of sweets but besides these goodies, you get a piece of history that is much more important than the coffee you are drinking or the slice of cake.

Social Importance

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, these places were the meeting place of regular and not so regular people. Novels written during those times are often mentioning nobles spending the afternoon in cafes and restaurants. It was a social activity, maybe the only one. It must have been an honor to be able to attend these afternoons. Social appearance was everything back then.

For artists was also the perfect place, whey had the chance to meet patrons willing to finance their projects or commission different works.

Many could not afford and had debts. A famous Hungarian writer, his alias was Rejtő Jenő used to go to a certain coffee house in Budapest, write short novels while drinking coffee, then run to the editorial, sell them to be able to pay his coffee.

This was a good thing to people but authorities had a different opinion.

The Florian, with its international clientele, had become a meeting place for many French Jacobins, so the State Inquisitors obliged Valentino Francesconi to close the café. source.

Caffè Florian Today

Italy has a colorful history, the country went through two world wars but thank God this wonderful place is not only standing but flourishing and becoming better and better.

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You can sit on the terrace, admire the architectural masterpiece while having a coffee.

Sala Cinese Caffè Florian

If you want to stay inside, you can take a trip in time lose yourself in these amazing paintings. There are also different social events organized here each year that are of interest to many.

If you can't visit the place, there's an e-store for you, ready to offer whatever you need, or better yet, things you don't even know exist but after having a look at the offer, you most likely want to buy half of it.

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Gourmet delicacies and Venetian typical confectionery, Italian fine Coffee (special blends), Florian selection: tea gift sets loose and in teabags, Venice Artisan Chocolate: best chocolates gift ideas and I could list all the goodies they have.

Me And These Wonderful Places

I've been to a few countries in Europe that have an old history and where you can find similar shops. For me these are real gemstones, artworks or name it as you want. Even though these places and products are expensive, not always affordable, I still prefer them over the new products you can buy at every corner.

Las summer I had the pleasure to visit Vienna where there's a similar place called The Ferstel Passage. It's a wonderful place full of amazing shops and architecture. When I saw the article about this coffee house the first thing I could think of was the Ferstel Passage. If you're interested, please read my post about it here and here.

Italy is on my wish list for ages and I'm hoping to visit the whole country one day. Then I'll be back with another blog about Caffè Florian :)