The history of Italian coffee begins in Venice, the gateway to the East. At the threshold of the 18th century the coffee shop, as the great playwright Carlo Goldoni also reminds us, becomes the place where to exchange and share what will then become the national symbolic drink: coffee. It is within this setting, full of history, tradition, passion, that is located in a central position, the Torrefazione Caffè Girani, a place that from the first half of the 20th century, after a first period in Trieste, becomes in Venice, synonymous with coffee of the highest quality, unique and with an unmistakable aroma.

Giuseppe Girani, founder of the coffee and also remembered for having brought the Venice football team to Major League in the 40s, hands down his family-run artisan company to his children and today, arrived at the third generation, we meet Roberta, granddaughter of the founder , to whom goes the arduous task of carrying out a historical activity in an economic context that is not always favourable, maintaining the traditional sales network and trying to expand it, also thanks to the care of a modern packaging like that of Packstyle, with the e-commerce.

Through Roberta's story, we tiptoe into her shop and recognise the unmistakable aroma of coffee in her words.

Our business has always had a strong family connotation. On the ground floor there was the shop and we lived above it. The smell of coffee was everywhere, in the furniture, on the walls, in the clothes. It has always been an element that was part of our daily life, an element that united the whole family. When a new quality was tested, when a new blend was tested, we all tasted it. It can be said that our life revolved around coffee, we lived only for our  family and our work!

One of the strengths of Torrefazione Girani concerns the choice of raw materials. Roberta tells us that she uses the same importers from Trieste that her grandfather turned to for the relationship of trust that has consolidated over the years. In addition to the standard indicators, such as the size of the bean, the quality, the year of harvest, the attention of the Girani family also turns to the land of origin of the coffee crops, choosing products from healthy soils, processed in a conscious way and avoiding contaminated and polluted land due to the harmful effects of conflicts or lack of attention to the environment and human health.

Here in Venice we often use the word "cure". We say, for example, that "we take care of green beans" because we prepare them to be cooked, discarding those that are not good. In the same way we take care of coffee, that is, we follow it with care. We pay the utmost attention to all stages of our processing, verifying and possibly eliminating the impurities of raw coffee, roasting it for individual qualities to enhance its characteristics until obtaining a medium roasting "monk's tunic color", letting it oxygenate and only then mixing it according to recipes developed over the years. But behind all this there is the care of buying from trusted importers and producers to have a healthy product, coming from known and safe production areas. To highlight the purity of our product we involved the University of Padua which extracted an essential oil from our coffee and guaranteed that it did not show any toxic element to the point that it could be used as an oily product for facial skin care.

The great experience of the Girani family is consolidated in the creation of blends, some of which consist of 9 to 11 different qualities of coffee. It is an ancient knowledge that is handed down from generation to generation linked to a profound knowledge of the subject and to the conservation of slow and prudent artisan processes that involve many stages of control.

For this affirmation on the market, Torrefazione Girani has always supplied the most famous accommodation facilities that have become a symbol of Venice.

Another aspect that characterises us is the personal relationship we have with our customers: whether they are restaurateurs or tourists, we have always tried to convey our passion, to tell our product. Those who buy from us want to bring a piece of Venice home, they want to keep thinking about our city, once the holiday is over.

And it was precisely the private customers abroad who during the pandemic, unable to go to Venice, partially supported the roasting company with requests for orders. The pandemic naturally accelerated the process that had already taken place, namely that roasting could not depend solely on the Venetian market.

Our initial steps were slow, the primary goal was first of all to make ourselves more visible online. This is why we have joined marketplace projects designed to promote Venetian craft activities. On the occasion of the 1600th anniversary of the birth of Venice, which unfortunately passed on the sly due to the lockdown, we have created 4 different blends dedicated to the online market, which recall the four symphonies of Vivaldi's seasons.

In this delicate phase in which tradition meets innovation, in which we try to expand the clientele, while maintaining the high quality standards, Packstyle comes into support, to respond precisely to realities like Caffè Girani, that is small and medium-sized companies with quality products that require customised and well-finished packaging, available in short runs and in a short time.

Packstyle packaging is important for its primary function, which is to preserve coffee in the best possible way. We, who deal with a food product and specifically coffee, have chosen a packaging that would guarantee optimal sealing. For this reason we preferred to choose for our four Vivaldi blends, a packaging with a degassing valve to preserve the aroma and freshness of the product. We have chosen a more sustainable and lighter packaging than the traditional one because we think that the packaging is the good dress with which the product is presented and we believe in sustainability. As for the graphics, which is equally important, we opted for a refined, but simple layout, which made it clear at first glance who we are and who we want to continue to be. We wanted an image that reflected tradition.

When we share the same values, it becomes easier to work together, and in fact this was the collaboration between Caffè Girani and Packstyle, united in the commitment to the environment, in the attention to sustainable processes and in the care of human relationships.

With Packstyle we immediately got in tune. In our opinion, their strength is the enthusiasm with which they approach the job. They are extremely helpful and kind to the customer and, like us, they immediately establish a personal relationship, trying to find customised solutions for their needs. We are satisfied.

Proposing a strategy to support an artisan reality so ancient and so deeply rooted in the territory was a stimulating challenge for us at Packstyle, who are often called upon to offer innovative ideas, enhancing the traditional base. In small and medium-sized enterprises, such as that of Caffè Girani, we find the beating heart of our country that competes and gets results that are recognized all over the world. At Packstyle we are here to show them in the best possible way with our packaging.