One has not been looking in the window for more than two seconds before a silky-voiced youth appears at the door and begins to recommend his wares and invite custom; and then of course one moves away in terror.
Here, too, under the arcade, are the head-quarters of the cafes, which do most of their business on the pavement of the Square.

Of these Florian's is the oldest and best.

At certain hours, however, one must cross the Square to either the Ortes Rosa or Quadri, or be roasted.

The original Florian was wise in his choice of site, for he has more shady hours than his rivals opposite.

In an advertisement of the cafe in the musical programme it is stated that, "the oldest and most aristocratic establishment of its kind in Venice, it can count among its clients, since 1720, Byron, Goethe, Rousseau, Canova, Dumas, and Moor," meaning by Moor not Othello but Byron's friend and biographer, the Anacreon of Erin.