This paper deals with Adriano Cecioni's aversion to the Baroque. Through a meticulous dissection of his most significant writings on sculpture, the article offers a critical overview of the role played by barocchismo in defining the new regional schools in post-Unification Italy. By addressing some stylistic, geographical, political and moral issues, the article casts a new light on Cecioni's idea of sculpture (e.g. his renewal of Lorenzo Bartolini's aesthetics) examined in connection with the main topics of nineteenth-century art.