Francesco Umberto Saffiotti and the measuring of children’s intelligence

In the present work are first outlined the main features of the testing movement in Italy, since the pioneering studies of Ferrari and of Guicciardi and, later, of De Sanctis and Bolaffi. After reviewing the basic steps of international testing and its main roots, anthropometric and psychiatric, it is stated, on the basis of documents, that seems prevalent in the Italy the second, given the nature of the formation of the first scholars in the field. Are also identified two "generations" of tests in Italy, the first of which appears more closely linked to the experimental laboratory procedures, distinguishing itself from these poorly, while the second has a much smaller connections with such procedures. In the second part of the work is proposed and analyzed the contribution of Francesco Umberto Saffiotti (1882-1927) on the problems of measuring intelligence in children. After a brief biographical note, are presented the studies of this author, beginning with its historical and methodological analysis. Continuing with the detailed scrutiny that Saffiotti dedicated to the Metric Scale of intelligence of Binet and Simon. Is then exposed, in its salient features, the revision of the Scale advanced by Saffiotti and Zaccaria Treves, then director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology in Milan. Closes the contribution a brief survey of the views expressed by foreign scholars on the Saffiotti’s revision.