Caffe Dell'Ussero, Pisa

Caffè dell'Ussero is situated in the historic Agostini Palace, a stunning fifteenth-century structure. Known alternatively as Ussero Palace
(Palazzo dell'Ussero), it belonged to the Agostini Fantini Venerosi della Seta family, notable Pisan aristocrats. Established in 1775, it ranks as Italy's third oldest café, following Venice's Florian (1720) and Rome's Greco (1760).

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the café was a hub for Enlightenment and Risorgimento movements. It's famed for planning the University battalion's Curtatone and Montanara expedition. The name 'Ussero' traces back to French explorer hussars residing in the building.

Over the years, the café and its building have been known by various names, including "Caffè delle Stanze," linked to the Civic Rooms club upstairs, and "Caffè dell 'Unione" for hosting the first Italian Congress of Scientists from 1839. Its walls still bear the legacy of notable visitors.

Prominent Risorgimento figures like Domenico Guerrazzi, suspended from university for discussing the Carbonari uprisings here, Giuseppe Montanelli, Giuseppe Giusti, famous from his "Memoirs of Pisa" (1841), Giosuè Carducci, who penned a heroic-comic poem here, and Garibaldi's associate Mazzini, were regulars.

During World War II, it was taken over by the allied forces, particularly the American army, in 1944 and reopened in 1945 as a café-tobacconist named "Usserino," shifting to adjacent spaces. It returned to its original site in 1959 after restoration.

Today, Caffè dell'Ussero continues to serve as a bar-cafeteria on Lungarno Pacinotti, a spot Leopardi called the most beautiful in Pisa, and perhaps even Florence.