Via Po Torino

The Caffè Nazionale is on the right side of Via Po, on the corner with Via Accademia Albertina. The café was once called "delle Colonne" because of a mirrored triangular column that stood in the middle of the room. The café was one of the first ones to be decorated with mirrors on the walls. Very popular in the pre-Risorgimento period, the café became a meeting place for those who had great hopes: here, on February 8 1848, Roberto d'Azeglio climbed on a table, presenting to an enthusiastic crowd the Statute and it expected reforms, which were about to be proclaimed by King Carlo Alberto.