BILLIA, LORENZO MICHELANGELO. – Philosopher, born in Cuneo on 1 December 1860, died in Florence on 10 April 1924. Having joined Morando in defending the condemned Rosminian propositions, in L'esilio di s. Agostino (Turin 1899) he worked to keep alive, through Rosmini, the idealistic-Christian tradition, which, in his view, had been exiled by the neo-Thomism of Louvain, drawing on uncommon erudition and acumen.
In 1890 he founded Nuovo Risorgimento and directed it until 1901. Other works: Intorno ad un fatto contemporaneo (Padua 1899); Le quaranta proposizioni attribuite a Antonio Rosmini (Milan 1889); Antonio Rosmini nei suoi frammenti di filosofia del diritto (Rovereto 1890); Max Müller e la scienza del pensiero (Milan 1890; etc.)
BIBL.: G. Tarozzi, obituary, in Riv. di filos., 4 (1924), pp. 259–60; M. F. Sciacca, Il secolo XX, Milan 1942, pp. 623–624 and 946–47. Alberto Scola