Our story la nostra storia
Land of coffee
A pioneer on the lakeshore since 1897. A story written by those who picked, dried, carried and cared for every harvest.
Why Venecia
She looked at the lake and saw a sea. She looked at the boats and saw gondolas.
Doña Blanca Rosa Salazar de Rivera, wife of Don Moisés Rivera Soto, saw a Venice on this shore: like the Italian city, it joined two worlds over the water, the highlands and the Pacific coast. Hence the name, and the Italian flavor that still comes to the table.
Chronicle of the shore
When the lake was the road
Before there were roads, coffee left by boat. The Venecia shore was a port, a drying patio and a meeting point for San Lucas Bay.
- 1897Organic coffee on the shoreVenecia plants coffee by the water: this is where Tolimán coffee begins.
- 1913Don Moisés Rivera Salazar is bornCreator of the coffee graft still grown on the farm today.
- c. 1930The stone landingThe dock is built, where harvests departed and travelers arrived.
- 1944 – 1951The golden years of coffee on the bayCoffees from the San Lucas shore win national awards.
- 2023Café Los Moiseses is born and the banana grove is plantedOrganic coffee, hand-picked and sun-dried on the century-old patios, and organic plantains on the shore.
- 2026Taberna Venecia opensAnd the patios, engraved with Maya figures, host the Tolimán Fashion Weekend.
In onore
The hands of Venecia
The farm exists thanks to the work of generations of women and men from San Lucas Tolimán, and of the families who led it in each era.
The foremen
Don Marcos Zelada, Don Elfego Álvarez, Don Rubén Macú, Don Hermógenes Rodríguez and today Héctor Hernández.
They knew every furrow and every boundary marker on the farm.
The pickers
Every season, from November to January, the ripe cherries are picked by hand, bean by bean, on the hillside and in the coffee grove.
The patios and the wet mill
Those who pulp, wash and turn the beans in the sun, without heavy machinery, so every batch comes out even.
The weavers
The women of San Lucas who today make up the Artistas del Tejido and bring Maya textiles into new designs.
Guardians of the farm
The team that watches over the patios, the shore, the houses and the sanctuary animals, day and night.
Kitchen and service
The Taberna Venecia team that welcomes every visitor with the table set.
Gardeners and builders
Gardeners, masons, builders and everyone who keeps the house, the trails, the dock and the gardens standing.
Artists
Leke, creator of the farm's great mural; Héctor, David, Silvia and José, who have painted history onto the patios; and the young talents of Tolimán CREA.
Generations
Those who led the farm
Three generations who sustained the coffee, the house and, today, conservation.
The early years
Don Moisés Rivera Soto and Doña Blanca Rosa Salazar de Rivera
They made coffee the farm's main endeavor.
Consolidation
Don Moisés Rivera Salazar and Doña Clemencia Flores de Rivera
He created his own coffee graft; she ran the household.
The restoration begins
Don Rodolfo Rivera Flores and Doña Valentina Pineda de Rivera
They opened the farm to conservation, education and culture.
The engraved patios
The guardian of the harvest and the generations
On the patios where coffee dried for more than a century, large Maya-inspired figures painted by Héctor, David, Silvia and José can now be seen from the air: the guardian who watches over the harvest, and a tree of generations bearing a message: the new generation, the legacy continues.
Memory album
Generations among the coffee trees
Every cup tells a story. This one is ours.