Another play that hails from the mid-18th Century, La Bottega del Caffè revolves around the luck of two gamblers during Carnival in Venice. The comedy in three acts opens with Eugenio and Flaminio, two souls which have become entranced by the gambling hall. Subsequently, their wives Vittoria and Placida arrive in search of dissuading them from their life of vice. As they try in vain, an overbearing Neapolitan man named Don Marzio and the gambling den manager Pandolfo try to deceive the young couples while the benevolent Ridolfo, a cafe owner and his waiter Trappola only try to help the young newlyweds. The piece was originally written using the Tuscan dialect instead of the author's native Venetian because Goldoni wanted to reach a larger audience in the various republics that composed the Italian peninsula in 1750.
