Un “elaborato studio sull’arte del XIX secolo” presentato presso l’Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura da Marcello Piacentini

n 1901 Marcello Piacentini presented a communication to Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura entitled The Neo-Classical Style and its Application in Italy. The theme was extremely topical considering the reconfiguration of Rome as a capital and the great XIX century question about the identification of a national architectural style. The approach of the communication was schematically didactic and based on a chronological and evolutionary reconstruction. The historiographical structure of the recount illustrated the development of the neoclassical style, focusing on the succession of four chapters devoted respectively to the “stile Impero”, the “true neo-classical” style, the “neo-Baroque” style, thus their applicability in the Italian context. Marcello Piacentini’s debut in the great hall of Palazzo dei Sabini clearly reveals the inclinations and the predilections of the young scholar, even before he entered the scientific knowledge of the discipline. Considering the assertive and peremptory tone of the amateur discourse, despite its great simplifications, the contribution presents various reasons for interest, regarding the biography of what would become the nation’s most influential architect, and the possibility to reconstruct the cultural temperament strongly stimulated by AACAR in the years between the end of the XIX century and the First World War.