The Foundations of Projective Geometry in Italy from De Paolis to Pieri

In this paper we examine the contributions of the Italian geometrical school to the Foundations of Projective Geometry. Starting from De Paolis' work we discuss some papers by Segre, Peano, Veronese, Fano and Pieri. In particular we try to show how a totally abstract and general point of view was clearly adopted by the Italian scholars many years before the publication of Hilbert's Grundlagen. We are particularly interested in the interrelations between the Italian and the German schools (mainly the influence of Staudt's and Klein's works). We try also to understand the reason of the steady decline of the Italian school during the twentieth century.