Founded in 1780 it became a fashionable meeting place for the artistic, intellectual and political classes of the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Frequented by such as Urbano Rattazzi, Massimo D'Azeglio, Giovanni Prati, Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour (who founded the Whist Club here), Giacinto Provana di Collegno and Cesare Balbo, it became known as "the café of the Machiavellis and of the pigtails."