Venetian mirror
Italian Neoclassical interior design refers to furnishing and interior decorating trends in Italy which occurred during the Neoclassical period (c. mid-18th century - early 19th century)
In the visual arts the European movement called "neoclassicism" began after 1765, as a reaction against both the surviving Baroque and Rococo styles, and as a desire to return to the perceived "purity" of the arts of Rome, the more vague perception ("ideal") of Ancient Greek arts, and, to a lesser extent, 16th century Renaissance Classicism.
Indoors, neoclassicism made a discovery of the genuine classic interior, inspired by the rediscoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, which had started in the late 1740s, but only achieved a wide audience in the 1760s, with the first luxurious volumes of tightly controlled distribution of Le Antichità di Ercolano.
Italy's major centres of Neoclassical art and interior design were Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin and Genoa, whilst Venice was far slower in adopting this new classicist fashion, and Venetian interiors were still Rococo in essence until the 1790s, when they were lightly made more simple and less flamboyant.
Although Neoclassical designs were mainly based on Roman and Renaissance architecture from Italy, and the nation was one of the founders of the style, France and England were the main stylistic leaders of the period, and by that time, Great Britain had deposed France of its position as the cultural and social leader in Europe. Giovanni Battista Piranesi's book, "Diverse Maniere d'Addornare in Cammini" illustrated how he believed Neoclassical interior design to be, and were unique in Europe since they combined the classical style of Neoclassical furnishings with the flamboyancy of the Rococo, creating an elaborate, yet Classical style. His works and ideas proved highly popular in Rome, where they were used as prototypes to furnish the interiors of the Vatican, and later spread throughout the rest of the continent.
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