"Sweets, pastries, wines and spirits, restaurant, tea room, chocolate factory. Licensced furnishers to the Royal family. Casa Giacosa, founded in 1815."
This was the letterhead in 1927 of the historic Caffè Giacosa a short time before it was transferred to the heart of the city in Via Tornabuoni at the ex-site of Casoni, an antique shop that boasted of having invented the famous Negroni cocktail at the beginning of the last century.
Meeting place for a refined and choice clientele like Prince Ruspoli and other nobles like della Gherardesca, Torricelli, and Corsi, the Caffè Giacosa became the center of Florentine society, a refined and prestigious "show window" for aristocrats and the elite.
After a painstaking restoration faithful to the original structures, Roberto Cavalli, a born Florentine bound to tradition, reopened Florence's historic "drawing room", giving back to the city one of its famous cafès. Inspired by a strong desire to keep the antique architectural solutions intact, as well as the magic atmosphere of the era, Roberto Cavalli has conserved not only the padded elegance of the setting, but also the cordial waiters who today welcome habitués and newcomers with great courtesy and savoir faire.

Did you know? the Negroni cocktail was invented here at Caffè Giacosa, at the time called bar Casoni between 1919 and 1920 by bartender Fosco Scarselli, that used to serve to the conte Cammillo Negroni a particular kind of Americano cocktail adding some gin, since then, following the success, the new drink was called negroni, in honor of the conte himself, in the following years different changes to the original recipe occurred.