Caffè Lavena
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Caffé Lavena is a café in the city of Venice, Italy.
It was established in 1750, and was originally called Regina d'Ungheria (the Queen of Hungary) under the Austro-Hungarian empire. The café has its origins in the popular Venice of the 17th century, it became later Orso Coronato (Crowned Bear) because of the picturesque sign showing a bear standing on his hind legs with a crown on its head. In 1860, Carlo Lavena bought the cafè and it has remained in his family ever since.
As the other cafés of St Mark's Square, Lavena equally had its part in intellecual life in the city. For many years it was frequented by Prince Frederick Hohenlohe, a French writer who used to be accompanied here by his close friend Gabriele d'Annunzio, with the goldonisti – critics of Goldoni – Musatti and Maddalena, the historian of The End Of Serenissima Ricciotti Bratti and Antonio Ravà, a scholar of Casanova.
But the person who gave lustre to Caffé Lavena, patronizing it from his first coming to Venice and becoming an habitual customer, was the composer Richard Wagner. Almost every day from five to six in the afternoon, Wagner used to visit Caffé Lavena and stay for half an hour, conversing very often with the owner Carlo Lavena.
Other famous persons that has frequented Caffé Lavena include the Venetian violinist Raphael Frontalli, the composer Franz Liszt, Rubinstein, Rostropovich, Böhm, Del Monaco, Gasdia, Kabaivanska, Ughi and the writers Piovene, Parise, Saviane and Alberto Moravia along with the current plethora of famous and not so famous movie stars that visits during the annual Venice Film Festival.
Today the café is frequented by gondoliers, Venetians and tourists alike. However the historical cafe was subject to a controversy as group of tourists were charged $135 for four espressos with shots of Amaro, an Italian liqueur. When the tourists received the bill for €101, or $135, they were shocked to find espresso was $8 a cup, a shot of Amaro was $11, and they had been charged another $56 because there was a string quintet playing!