It is a monument of Italian culture, located in the 15th-century Palazzo Agostini, along the Lungarno. Its walls are covered with glorious memories of its most illustrious "Risorgimento-era" visitors: Domenico Guerrazzi, Giuseppe Giusti, Renato Fucini, Giosuè Carducci, Cesare Abba, Giuseppe Montanelli. In 1799, it hosted meetings of the "high-status Bonapartists" and was the headquarter of the Pisan Circle, whose members used AngloSaxon nicknames to avoid being identified by the "eavesdroppers" of the Bargello: they nevertheless faced a trial for "democracy".
From 1818, it was the headquarter of the Regie Stanze Civiche (Royal Civic Rooms), the first and oldest city club. In 1839, it hosted meetings of the first Italian Congress of Scientists. In 1899, it was transformed into a café chantant where the first animated images by the Lumière brothers were projected, and in 1905, the first screening of a spoken film. Since 1959, it has been the headquarter of the National Academy of the Ussero.