Caffè Florian

Caffè Florian has been serving coffee in Piazza San Marco since December 29, 1720, making it, by its own reckoning, the oldest coffeehouse in continuous operation in the world. Whether that claim is perfectly accurate or not — there are a few contenders — it's indisputably one of them, and certainly the most beautiful. The interior is a jewel box of mirrored walls, painted panels, and gilt-edged banquettes that look exactly as they did when Casanova stopped by for an espresso.

Floriano Francesconi opened the café under the arcade of the Procuratie Nuove and named it "Alla Venezia Trionfante" — Triumphant Venice. Nobody called it that; everyone called it Florian's, after the owner. The name stuck for three centuries. In the 18th century, it was the only coffeehouse in Venice that admitted women, which made it both progressive and extremely popular.

The guest list reads like a who's who of European culture: Goethe, Dickens, Proust, Byron, Rousseau, Stravinsky, and — inevitably — Hemingway all drank here. During the Austrian occupation, Caffè Florian became an unofficial headquarters of Italian nationalism. Venetians boycotted the Austrian-favoured Caffè Quadri across the piazza and made Florian's their patriotic drinking spot. Coffee as political resistance.

Today a coffee at Florian's costs about 12 euros, more if the orchestra is playing. A Bellini will set you back considerably more. The prices are outrageous and everybody knows it, but you're paying for 300 years of accumulated atmosphere. Sit at an outdoor table when the orchestra strikes up and the piazza fills with golden evening light, and even the most hardened cynic has to admit: twelve euros for this view might actually be a bargain.