Cafe entertainment in Venice
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A
Caffè dei Frari
Take your espresso with a heaping of history at this century-old carved wooden bar, or recover from the sensory overload of I Frari with a sandwich, glass of wine and easy conversation at the dinky indoor cafe tables downstairs or on the Liberty-style wrought-iron balcony upstairs.
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B
Caffè Florian
Florian adheres to rituals established c 1720: uniformed waiters serve hot chocolate on silver trays, lovers canoodle in plush banquettes indoors and the orchestra strikes up a tango as fading sunlight illuminates San Marco’s portal mosaics. Ever forward-thinking, this cafe was among the first to admit women, served as a clubhouse for Italy’s independence movement and still hosts contemporary art and design events.
reviewed
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C
Qcoffee Bar
One drink grants you access to the works of two modernist master architects through the Querini Stampalia bookshop. Rainy days are right for hot chocolate in Mario Botta’s neoclassical cafe, with white walls framed with black polished-concrete floors and a harmonious repeating-rectangle theme. Outside, Carlo Scarpa’s clever, Levant- inspired concrete irrigation channels bring Venice’s canals indoors, adding industrial cool to your spritz in the sunny garden. The cicheti are especially scrumptious.
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D
Il Caffè Rosso
Sunny piazza seating is the place to recover from last night's revelry and today's newspaper headlines, until the cycle begins again at 6pm with Spritz cocktails and standing-room-only student crowds.
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E
Paradiso
This cheery yellow mini-palazzo is fuelled by a steady stream of coffee and cocktails that cost less than you’d expect given the designer chairs, waterfront terrace and lack of competition – this is the only cafe within reach of anyone in stilettos at the Biennale. Watch curators woo shy artists as starchitects hold court under sun umbrellas – even between Biennales.
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F
Caffè del Doge
Sniff your way to the Doge, where hyperactive coffee connoisseurs slurp their way through the menu of speciality imported coffees from Ethiopia to Guatemala, all roasted on the premises. The decor is more laboratory than classic Venetian cafe and the looped video ad seems like hype, but these beans have earned an international following.
reviewed