The Garibaldian freemason and politician Francesco Crispi, who organised the expedition of the Thousand and convinced Garibaldi to lead it, loved to drop in at the Caffè San Carlo in Turin, even during his two terms as the prime minister of Italy.
A splendid café, this bastion of the Risorgimento was the place of D’Azeglio, Cavour, Lamarmora, Rattazzi, and Giolitti. Here Crispi convinced the Left to intervene in Africa, and Gramsci decided to set up “L’Ordine Nuovo”. Here Alexandre Dumas enjoyed his first “bicerin”, and Admiral Cigni and the Duke of the Abruzzi planned the 1899 Arctic expedition with the Stella Polare. Einaudi, Croce, De Amicis, Casorati, Gobetti, Medardo Rosso and Bontempelli all made this their cultural meeting place.
