![Palazzo altoviti sangalletti, ex- caffé doney](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Palazzo_altoviti_sangalletti%2C_ex-_caff%C3%A9_doney.JPG)
Doney or Doney's was a
cafeteria
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
established at the end of the 19th century. It was originally located in the in the
Cascine Park (19th century), then moved on , near the
British Consulate
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...
. The Doney was favoured by
aristocracy
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At t ...
and
upper middle-class
In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...
, particularly by British citizens living in Florence, such as
The Scorpioni
The Scorpioni ("Scorpions") were a small group of elderly English ladies who lived in Florence in the 1930s and 1940s. They were given this name because they were known for their arch humour.
Members
One of them was an English governess called ...
.
When
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
attacked
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
(now
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
), the British expressed their public disapproval. This led to some outbreaks of
Fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
violence at the Doney in 1935–36.
The most famous customers of Doney were
socialite
A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...
Violet Trefusis who was an acquaintance of Mussolini himself, and a group of elderly English ladies called
The Scorpioni
The Scorpioni ("Scorpions") were a small group of elderly English ladies who lived in Florence in the 1930s and 1940s. They were given this name because they were known for their arch humour.
Members
One of them was an English governess called ...
who resided in Florence between the
World War
A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
s.
The cafeteria closed down in 1986.
Doney is also one of the main settings in
Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...
's autobiographical film ''
Tea with Mussolini
''Tea with Mussolini'' ( it, Un tè con Mussolini) is a 1999 Anglo-Italian semi-autobiographical comedy-drama war film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, scripted by John Mortimer, telling the story of a young Italian boy's upbringing by a circle o ...
''.
See also
*
The Scorpioni
The Scorpioni ("Scorpions") were a small group of elderly English ladies who lived in Florence in the 1930s and 1940s. They were given this name because they were known for their arch humour.
Members
One of them was an English governess called ...
*
Tea with Mussolini
''Tea with Mussolini'' ( it, Un tè con Mussolini) is a 1999 Anglo-Italian semi-autobiographical comedy-drama war film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, scripted by John Mortimer, telling the story of a young Italian boy's upbringing by a circle o ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gran Caffe Doney
History of Florence
Buildings and structures in Florence
Coffeehouses and cafés in Italy
Restaurants disestablished in 1986
1986 disestablishments in Italy
Defunct restaurants in Italy