The figure of Pestalozzi is positioned in an era of crucial social and political change. It represents a key element in understanding the long path that leads to the creation of the modern educational institutions. The paper analyses the main elements of innovation that distinguish the pedagogical proposal of the Swiss scholar in connection with the experimental activity conducted at the schools he founded. On this basis, the paper focuses on the spread of the Pestalozzi movement as a precursor of the modern tendency to create educational “fashions”, highlighting how this phenomenon allows us to re- flect, in a historical perspective, on problems that appear very relevant today with respect to the educational role of contemporary school.