The first news of the then mysterious drink “coffee” reached Venice thanks to the noble Venetian Giovanni Francesco Morosini in 1585.

The “first coffee-shop” was opened in 1683 in Venice under the Procuratie Vecchie in St. Mark’s Square.
It was an immediate success: by the mid 1700s there were more than two hundred “caffetterie” in Venice, no fewer than twenty-four of these around St. Mark’s Square.
This was the scene that met Giorgio Quadri and his young Greek wife in 1775 on arriving in Venice from the island of Corfu, intending to make their fortune in the city. The couple bought an old small workshop under the Procuratie Vecchie and extended it, set up in business and later sold the by then famous coffee-house to some entrepreneurs who kept the name. After the difficult years of the anti-Austrian revolution, the fame of the Caffè Quadri (by now extended and enriched with stucco decoration, mirrors and paintings) grew to such a point that it had become an exclusive sophisticated venue for Venetians and for many distinguished visitors to the city.
Its rooms overlooking St. Mark’s Square have, over the years, seen the likes of Alexandre Dumas, John Ruskin, Richard Wagner and Marcel Proust.

1600 - 1700 - S. MARCO - rev. 0.1.6