«Il professore […] non deve essere il
critico ma bensì lo storico dell’arte».
Storia dell’arte all’Accademia Albertina,
1885-1900
Alessandro Botta
This essay reconstructs the belated establishment of art history teaching at the Accademia Albertina in
Turin between 1885 and 1900, from the “history and literature applied to the arts” chair held by Giuseppe
Giacosa and then Corrado Corradino to its eventual naming as “Storia dell’arte” in 1895–96. Drawing on
periodical sources, archival records, and Corradino’s 1888 course programme – which defined the teacher’s
task as historical rather than critical – the study examines the discipline’s contents, methods, and available
visual and bibliographic resources, situating the Turin case within the wider Italian debate on art history’s
academic status inaugurated by Adolfo Venturi.