As one of the most relaxed cafés in Milan, ‘Che bello!’ and ‘Meraviglioso!’ are the usual reactions on entering this florist-cum-café. Opened in winter 2004 on the site of Fioraio Bianchi, the original flower shop remains with the café added, namely a 16th-century wooden bar and 18th-century tables from Paris.

Selectively decorated with fresh flowers and dried grasses and posies on every table, and with scrubbed terracotta tiles, turn-of-the-century radiators and dressers full of crockery, there’s a nostalgic parlour-like charm here. All the music comes from Paris, dating from the 1940s through to 2005; smooth French jazz is played in the afternoons and evenings.

The Francophile owner Massimo – an erstwhile bored lawyer – wanted customers to step out of Milan (although there’s no street sign) and into tranquillity. So food-to-go is not an option; slow food is celebrated, as is coffee, wine and grappa. After all of which, guests might be sufficiently carried away with the romance to buy a bunch of flowers on their way out.