In 1837 it underwent a first renovation led by the architect Leoni and the complex decorative apparatus that characterizes it was built and reopened under new management with the name of Caffè Vassallo. Between 1839 and 1840 the pictorial decorations of the central hall were completed by Rodolfo Morgari and del Borra. In 1851 the smaller room known as the “Chinese Cabinet” was inaugurated, decorated by the masters Pietro Spintz and Giacomo Beltrami according to the exotic taste of the time. The fame of an intellectual salon grew and became one of the most popular cafés by university professors, journalists, politicians, artists and writers who were exponents of the contemporary scapigliatura current. Among the illustrious guests of the café were Giovanni Giolitti, Francesco Crispi, Alexandre Dumas (son), Antonio Gramsci and Admiral Cagni who, together with Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta, Duca degli Abruzzi, in 1899 designed the expedition to Antarctica with the Polar Star ship.