Il ruolo delle guide e dei conoscitori locali nella dispersione del patrimonio artistico: il caso di Pesaro

Upon arrival in the several locations involved in the well-known phenomenon of requisitions, the Napoleonic commissioners drew up lists of artworks (or had them drawn up) ‘deserving’ to be sent to Paris in order to fulfil the new and great Louvre project – many were later returned but they were sent to the Pinacoteca of Brera instead of their original locations, while others were moved directly to the same art gallery in the following years. This essay focuses on the role played by periegesis literature as a means of support for the selection of local masterpieces and their subsequent, massive removing which affected our territories so much; the Guida di Pesaro (1783) is a significant example of such a support role for the artworks’ selection. Carefully described and emphasised for their stylistic and aesthetic characteristics, the works of art described in the Guida are indeed the very same that ended up being removed from the city to be transferred to Paris and Milan.