ABSTRACT
Architectural styles act as bearers of meaning – that is, they carry social, political or other meanings that are associative, and which are rooted in history and the collective memory. Political change contributed to the transition between different styles and the abandonment of unsuitable architectural languages. Egyptian motifs persisted in Italian funerary architecture throughout the 1800s, as evidenced by a tomb of 1876 in the monumental cemetery in Milan comprising a pyramid, a sphinx and a female figure in Egyptian dress. The abandonment of a neo-Egyptian style in favour of Greco-Roman classicism was reflected in the nature of architectural competitions. The stylistic development of Italian funerary architecture during the nineteenth century may be divided into several broad phases that were roughly separated by the unification of Italy in 1860. During the phase that is from the beginning of the century until unification funerary architecture was initially dominated by neoclassicism.
