In the IX Century, Maria – called “Vulcana” thanks to the red colour of her hair –and daughter of the Doge of Venice Orso I Partecipazio, loved Tancredi, a handsome and courageous young man, but as he came from a poor family, her father was against the match. The girl advised her suitor to go and fight against the Turks, to compensate for his humble origins by the glory of his feats. Soon, news of the young man’s courage and gesture spread around the world but unfortunately, he perished shortly afterwards. Legend has it that, before dying, he picked a rosebud coloured by his blood to send to his loved “Vulcana” as an extreme gesture of love.
There is also another story about April 25th, the feast of Saint Mark, the saint patron of the city of Venice. According to this tale, the bocolo tradition finds its origins from the rose garden growing near St. Mark’s burial place.
The rose garden was given to Basilio, a sailor living in Giudecca, because he helped stealing the remains of the Saint.
When Basilio died, the rose garden became the natural border between the property divided between his two children. As time passed by, fights divided the two branches of the family and from that moment the garden stopped to flower.
Many years after, on April 25th, a girl and a boy belonging to the two different families fell in love watching each other across the rose garden and from that moment it started to flower again. The boy took one of the red rose buds and gave it to the girl.
On April 25th, this poetic gesture is preserved by tradition and Caffè Florian is pleased to give the Rosebud to the Ladies with the same feeling with which every Venetian use to offer it to his beloved.