Grossi Florentino

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Living Institution on Bourke Street

Few restaurants in Australia carry the weight of history that Florentino does. The address at 80 Bourke Street has been a place of memory, ritual, and celebration for over a century — and the building itself tells that story. It began in 1918 when wine importer Samuel Wynn opened a shop on the site, which soon evolved into a French café. The decisive turn came in 1928, when Rinaldo Massoni leased the business, renamed it Café Florentino, and introduced an Italian dining style that would define the address for generations.

By 1934, Massoni had acquired the adjoining property, expanding the restaurant and creating the upstairs Mural Room — its walls decorated with murals by pupils of the renowned artist Napier Waller. That room remains one of Melbourne's most distinctive dining spaces, a physical record of the ambition that has always underpinned this place.

Custodians, Not Owners

What is striking about Florentino's history is the language used by each generation that has run it: custodianship rather than ownership. After Massoni's death in 1941, his son Leon and business partner George Tsindos guided the restaurant through decades of growth, adding The Cellar and Bistro Grill in the 1950s. Further sensitive restorations followed under subsequent stewards. The Grossi family's 27-year tenure, beginning in 1999, reaffirmed Florentino's place in Melbourne's culinary history before the current operators — edition Hospitality — took the reins with the same stated intent: to protect what made these venues iconic while allowing them to keep evolving.

That philosophy is visible in the breadth of what Florentino now offers. The Florentino Dining Room is the flagship — the address for classic, refined Italian cooking in the grand upstairs space. Alongside it sit Café Florentino, the Cellar Bar, and Ombra, each with its own character and rhythm, together forming one of the most complete Italian dining destinations in the country.

Recognition That Reflects the Room

The Florentino Dining Room holds Two Hats (16/20) from The Age Good Food Guide 2026 — a score that places it among Melbourne's most accomplished restaurants. That recognition sits alongside a 2 Forks rating from Gambero Rosso, the Italian food authority, lending an international dimension to the local esteem. For a restaurant whose identity is so rooted in Italian tradition, that particular acknowledgement carries real meaning.

The classic sophistication of Italian dining endures here: assured, unhurried, and unmistakably itself. Whether you come for a long lunch in the Dining Room or an aperitivo at the Cellar Bar, Florentino meets you with the same quiet confidence it has offered Melbourne since 1928.