Emilio Marcucci was an Italian botanist and architect. During his lifetime he participated in several architectural competitions around Italy. His projects include a triumphal arch to celebrate King Vittorio Emanuele in Rome, as well as several drawings to complete or restore medieval and Renaissance monuments. The most famous of these are the Badia Fiorentina and Santa Croce churches in Florence, the cathedrals of Milan and Bologna, and the monument of Bartolommeo Aragazzi in Montepulciano. He also became inspector of archaeological excavations and monuments in Arezzo (1875-1887) and Florence (1883-1886), and was one of the editors of the journal Ricordi di Architettura.
The collection comprises 23 boxes with materials (3,000 photographic prints, and 670 drawings) related to medieval and early modern monuments around Italy and their restoration in the 19th century. The bulk of the collection includes vintage photographs, drawings and architectural plans of churches and palaces in Tuscany. There are also numerous files about other places in Italy, such as Milan, Bologna, Genoa, Rome, the Apulia region, and others.
Numerous photos and drawings illustrate Marcucci's work for the facades for San Petronio in Bologna and for Florence and Milan Cathedrals. Other projects include the reconstruction of the Aragazzi monument in Montepulciano, the Vittoriano in Rome, the Borgo Medievale in Turin, and additions to the tomb of Dante in Ravenna and the Orsanmichele church in Florence. The collection provides interesting examples of how photos were used in architectural design and conservation in the 19th century. At the same time it offers important documentation on both the history of photography and the revival of Gothic and Renaissance styles in architecture.
The materials highlight Emilio Marcucci’s activity as an amateur architect and the special use of photographs he made while working in his architectural projects. For one example of his methods, he commonly cut up photos representing monuments or sculptures and assembled the various pieces in different ways while working on his projects.