The Umbertine style（Italian: stile umbertino）is the name commonly given to a 19th-century style of Renaissance Revival architecture in Italy. It is a style which is typical of the eclecticism of late 19th century architecture and decorative arts in Europe. It is characterized by its eclecticism, because of the mix of decorative elements from the past.

It flourished during the reign of king Umberto I of Italy, after whom it was named, and it was most popular in Rome.

The name
The stile Umbertino takes its name from king Umberto I of Savoy, who reigned the kingdom of Italy from 1878 until his assassination in 1900. The term is also not reserved exclusively for architecture, but can also describe furniture of the period and other decorative arts.

History
The stile Umbertino can be best described as the Italian declination of the Eclecticism, a style of architecture and decorative arts which swept across Europe in the second half of the 19th century, and that combines in one building features from different artistic periods and repertoires.

While Italian buildings and other artistic expressions in this style follow in many ways the path followed elsewhere in Europe, it also differs insofar it strives to formulate a truly national Italian style. This happened largely in the decades immediately following the unification of Italy, as one of the many attempts to build a national sense of unity. In view of this, the style came to be applied often on buildings housing governmental bodies, such as ministries and law courts, as well as on palaces and villas for the establishment, especially in Rome, which became in 1870 the new capital of the kingdom of Italy. Here the city council and the government developed an ambitious and grand plan to redevelop the city and endow it with infrastructures fit for its status of capital. The stile Umbertino gained in popularity after 1870 and dwindled around 1895. However, it remained in use for governmental buildings well into the first and second decade of the 20th century.

Characteristics

Piazza della Repubblica
Similarly to other declinations of the 19th century Eclecticism, the stile Umbertino draws inspiration from several periods of the history of art. It distinguishes itself for its particularly conservative interpretation of the Eclecticism, aiming to develop a truly national style. This latter came to be identified in an academic and conventional Renaissance Revival repertoire, with elements drawn as well from the Baroque period and the early Renaissance.

Peculiarities of the Umbertino Style
This style differs slightly from that of Napoleon III, also because it bloomed later, and on the other hand showed a real originality especially in architecture. Umbertina’s architecture is distinguished by a particularly conservative interpretation of eclecticism, aimed at the formulation of a “national” style, identified in an academic and conventional neo-Renaissance, crossed by neo – baroque elements, then prevailing in France and beyond.

Examples of Umbertine architectures
Style developed above all in Rome, in the project of making it a great and modern city, worthy of being the capital of the kingdom. This is why many buildings of power and administration present this style.

Palace of Justice in Rome
One of the most important examples of this style is the Palazzo di Giustizia of Rome (current seat of the Supreme Court of Cassation), designed by Guglielmo Calderini around 1884, in which some reminiscences of Garnier’s Opéra meet.

Koch Palace
Palazzo Koch, which is located in Via Nazionale in Rome and is currently the official headquarters of the Bank of Italy, is another testimony of this style, in this case particularly declined on the Neo-Renaissance side. It takes its name from its designer, the architect Gaetano Koch, and was built between the years 1888 and 1892.

Palace of the Province of Piacenza
The Palazzo della Provincia di Piacenza is considered another example of a building in the Umbertine style, characterized by the fusion of the Renaissance and neoclassical style, united in a complex of great spatial and volumetric balance, enlivened by Liberty elements. Designed by the provincial technical office in 1912, it was subsequently reworked in its current form by the architect Manfredo Manfredi, already busy in Rome in large public commissions, such as the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II in Piazza Venezia and the Palazzo del Viminale. The hints of Art Nouveau style are justified precisely by the late date of the construction of the building, when the Umbertine style was now declining.

Villino Durante in Rome
Il Villino Durante, on the other hand, is one of the most representative examples of the Umbertine style in Rome for private buildings. It was built starting in 1889 for the Sicilian surgeon and senator Francesco Durante, on the end of the Villa Patrizi which, bombed in 1849 and in the 1870 Rome outlet, was in a state of neglect. The project was called the famous architect Giulio Podesti, who already directed the work of Umberto I Polyclinic.

Due to the rapid growth of population in late 19th century Italy, as well as the need of the new national government to make its mark in the cities of the new kingdom, examples of stile umbertino can be found in all of Italy’s major cities. Rome, in particular, boasts several architectural ensembles built in this style, being particularly favoured for governmental infrastructures.

Notable Umberto I style buildings:

Palazzo Koch,Rome (1888)
Palazzo Margherita, Rome (1886)
Porticoes of Piazza della Repubblica, Rome (1887)
Galleria Umberto I, Naples (1890)
Palace of Justice, Rome(1885)
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome(1883)
Piazza della Repubblica, Florence(1870)
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan(1878)
Palazzo del Viminale, Rome(1891)

Source from Wikipedia