Il ritorno del barocco in Benedetto Croce

The analysis carried out by Benedetto Croce in Storia d’Italia dal 1871 al 1915 and in Storia d’Europa nel secolo decimonono, as observed by the most perceptive interpreters of the historiographical activity of Croce, excludes the conflict phases that preceded the historical periods taken into consideration (The Risorgimento for the History of Italy and the French Revolution for the History of Europe). This paper shows how the perplexity of the historiographical setting of Croce is also found in the book about the Baroque period in Italian history that was published in the same year of the two most important and well-known historical works by Benedetto Croce.