One of the best known icons in The Hague’s city center is Florencia, an old-fashioned Italian ice cream shop. This description is not doing it justice; Florencia is so much more. The shop and ice cream factory were founded in 1932 by Eduardo Talamini. The ‘gelateria’ started small but grew steadily. Not only the ice cream, also the Italian coffee found a loving clientele. By 1964, the shop served 6,000 cups of coffee a day and opened at 4:30 each morning! Nowadays Florencia doesn’t open until 7:30. A steady group of loyal customers still start their day with a cheap coffee here. If you want to meet some authentic locals, just visit Florencia in the early morning.

Personally, I prefer other coffee places to Florencia. But I do love their ice cream. And I love how almost everyone in The Hague has memories about Florencia. Fond childhood memories, but also more dramatic stories that people tell each other about the place. Like the story about the founder, Eduardo, who lost his life in 1964 when his tie got caught in the ice cream machine. There are so many stories about Florencia that even a play and a book were made about the place.

Nowadays, the Italian family still run the shop. One of the great grandsons even started his own ‘gelateria’: Riva, a few streets away. Conveniently, even closer to where I live…