Venice - Caffe Florian

Book excerpt: A photographic portrait of the oldest coffeehouse in Italy. Caffe Florian in St. Mark's Square has always been the high-society "drawing room" of Venice. And Gianni Berengo Gardin, an adoptive Venetian, has always had close ties with the city where he began his career. This book is the result of his photographing a week in the life of the historic cafe which boasts habitues from the past such as Casanova and Byron. Berengo Gardin has sat in his usual discreet fashion on the plush small red divans in Florian's and captured around forty timeless moments from everyday life. The black-and-white images provide a wonderful insight into the reality of Florian's, which is about to celebrate three hundred years of glorious social life. In fact, the cafe was opened under the Procuratie Nuove by Floriano Francesconi in 1720. Now a major photographer has prepared a magnificent birthday gift for a place that has seen centuries of history.