Dino Formaggio Archive

Currently undergoing reorganisation and processing, the archive includes working papers, personal documents, academic reports and drafts. Some audio-visual materials, primarily interviews and lectures, is already available in digital format.

Donated by his heirs to the Philosophy Library in 2016, the Dino Formaggio Archive comprises an extensive philosophical research library (over 2,200 volumes), along with working papers, personal documents, academic records, and published works. The collection also includes a set of audio-visual materials—mainly interviews and lectures—some of which have been digitised and are available via the La Statale Archivi portal.

The archive offers a vivid account of Dino Formaggio’s intellectual, philosophical, and personal journey: from his early years as a primary school teacher in Motta Visconti (academic year 1933/34), occupying the post once held by the poet Ada Negri, to his graduation under the supervision of Antonio Banfi, his subsequent years teaching at secondary level, and his academic appointments—first in Aesthetics at the University of Pavia, then from 1963 as Full Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Padua, where he also served as Pro-Rector and Dean of the Faculty of Education. He later moved to the University of Milan, where in 1990 he was made Professor Emeritus in Aesthetics.

Biography of Dino Formaggio

Dino Formaggio (1914–2008), student of Antonio Banfi, graduated in Philosophy in Milan with a dissertation on the concept of “artistic technique”. After contributing to Corrente, a literary magazine published in Milan between 1938 and 1940, he joined the Resistance, especially through the “Committee for Intellectual Agitation” formed by Banfi.

In the post-war period, he joined Banfi in the Fronte della cultura and became his assistant in the Chair of Aesthetics at the University of Milan. He contributed to the journal Studi filosofici and to the foundation of the Society for Aesthetics. In 1953, he published Fenomenologia della tecnica artistica, a work based on and expanding his thesis, which earned him his teaching qualification and an appointment to the Chair of Aesthetics in Pavia, at the invitation of Enzo Paci.

In 1963, while teaching Methodology of Vision at the Polytechnic University of Milan, he won the Chair of Aesthetics. However, his appointment to the Faculty of Education in Padua was delayed for three years. Between 1967 and 1978, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Education in Padua and, in 1971, as Vice-Rector.

From 1979 to 1984, he held the Chair of Aesthetics at the University of Milan, where he later chaired the Philosophy degree programme. Even after retiring from university teaching, Formaggio remained active in promoting the work of the artists he had known, writing essays and exhibition catalogues.

In 1985, he founded and directed the journal Fenomenologia e scienze dell’uomo. He continued to take part in conferences and public debates. In 1990, he was made Professor Emeritus at the University of Milan, having already been awarded the title of Commendatore of the Italian Republic for cultural merit (1974) and the Gold Medal for Merit in Culture and the Arts (1969). In 1996, he received the Lion d’Or International Award for his philosophical publications and civic commitment.

Bibliography by Dino Formaggio

Arte e problematismo, Milano, Cantoni, 1946
(a cura di Dino Formaggio), Tintoretto, Milano, Mondadori, 1950
(a cura di Dino Formaggio), Goya, Milano, Mondadori, 1951
(a cura di Dino Formaggio), Van Gogh, Milano, Mondadori, 1952
L' arte come comunicazione, Milano, Nuvoletti, 1953
Michelangelo, Novara, Istituto geografico De Agostini, 1955
(a cura di Dino Formaggio), Piero della Francesca, con 138 tavole in nero, Milano, A. Mondadori, 1957
Osservazioni sul giudizio estetico, Padova, Edizioni della rivista di estetica, 1958
Proposte per un'estetica fenomenologica in Il pensiero critico, 2(1959), Milano, 1959
(a cura di Dino Formaggio), Raffaello, Novara, Istituto geografico De Agostini, 1959
Origini e fondamenti dell'estetica di Banfi, 1961
Antonio Banfi; scelta, introduzione e note di Dino Formaggio, Filosofia dell'arte, Roma, Editori riuniti, 1962
L'idea di artisticità. Dalla morte dell'arte al ricominciamento dell'estetica filosofica, Milano, Ceschina, 1962
Studi di estetica, Milano, Renon, 1962
L'arte in “Enciclopedia filosofica ISEDI”, Milano, ISEDI, 1973
Fenomenologia della tecnica artistica; in appendice: L'arte, il lavoro, le tecniche, Parma, Lucca, Pratiche, 1978
M. Dufrenne, D. Formaggio, Trattato di estetica in 2 volumi, Milano, Mondadori, 1981
La morte dell'arte e l'estetica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1983
(a cura di Ernesto D'Alfonso, Elio Franzini), Estetica, tempo, progetto, Milano, CLUP, 1990
L'arte come idea e come esperienza, Milano, Mondadori, 1990
Problemi di estetica, Palermo, Aesthetica, 1991
Separatezza e dominio. Discorsi di impegno civile, Milano, Edizioni dell'Arco, 1994
Dino Formaggio; presentazione di Elio Franzini, Filosofi dell'arte del Novecento, Milano, Guerini, 1996
Riflessioni strada facendo. Un cammino verso il sociale, Milano, Mimesis, 2003
(a cura di Giuseppe Sandrini; con la collaborazione di Lucia Pretto), Amo la tua anima. Lettere ad Antonia Pozzi; con Altre lettere a Dino, di Antonia Pozzi, Verona, Alba pratalia, 2016.

Bibliography on Dino Formaggio

Dino Formaggio e l'estetica. Scritti offerti di autori vari con uno studio di Dino Formaggio, Milano, Unicopli, 1985
Il canto di Seikilos. Scritti per Dino Formaggio nell'ottantesimo compleanno, Milano, Guerrini, 1995
S. Chiodo, Dino Formaggio, in “Rivista di Storia della Filosofia”, 65(2010), n. 1, pp. 167-180
S. Chiodo M. Mazzocut-Mis, Dino Formaggio. Fenomenologia e artisticità, in “Materiali di Estetica”, 3(2012)
La estética italiana de Dino Formaggio, numero speciale della rivista “Eikasia. Revista de filosofia”, (62), 2015
(a cura di Sergio Giorato), L'arte: il senso di una vita. Disegni, acquarelli, oli, sculture di Dino Formaggio artista, Crocetta del Montello, Antiga, 2014
“Phenomenology and Aesthetics in Dino Formaggio”, in F. Buongiorno, V. Costa R. Lanfredini, (a cura di), Phenomenology in Italy. Authors, Schools and Traditions, Cham, Springer, 2019
Dino Formaggio. Estetica e filosofia. Atti delle giornate di studio per il centenario della nascita 1914-2014, Crocetta del Montello, Antiga, 2020