In the eighteenth century, this was the café where visitors could find gondoliers and guides, or “còdega”. With Carlo Lavena in 1860 came opulence and orchestra. From 1866, with Venice freed from Austria, it was the haunt of Italian naval officers. Wagner came almost every day in the winter of 1882-83 with his father-in-law Liszt and the violinist Frontali, and here he composed pages of Parsifal, as a plaque still recalls. The chairs, tables, and exquisite chandeliers evoke its illustrious past and invite us to enjoy a drink where Foscolo, Verdi, D’Annunzio, Rubinstein, and Rostropovich once sat.
