-This 11 x 14 mounted sepia tone photograph depicts Cafe Florian.  Set under the arcades of the Procuratie Nuove in St. Mark’s Square, Cafe Florian may rightfully claim to be one of the city’s most enduring symbols.  Opened on December 29, 1720 by Floriano Francesconi under the name Venezia Trionfante, or Triumphant Venice, it soon became known by its patrons as “Florien’s”, the most famous café of the day.  History unfolded outside the café’s stained-glass windows: the magnificent rise of the Republic of Venice and its fall, the surreptitious plotting of conspirators wishing to end the French and, later, Austrian rule, whereas the wounded from the 1848 uprising were treated inside its elegant rooms.