[4] In 1795, he moved to Modena and began a brief political career, becoming a member of the legislative body, serving as a councilor of state, and minister plenipotentiary of the Cisalpine Republic at Turin.

He was influential in opening the Galleria dell’Accademia to the public in 1817,[5] increasing the number of the professors at the academy, improving the curriculum, and establishing prizes.

Wilhelm Schlegel advised Cicognara on his magnum opus, the Storia della scultura dal suo risorgimento in Italia al secolo di Napoleone.

In 1814, after the fall of Napoleon, Cicognara was patronized by Francis I of Austria, and between 1815 and 1820 published, under the auspices of that sovereign, his Fabbriche più cospicue di Venezia, two folios, containing some 150 plates.

In 1821 he published at Pisa a well-known catalog of his collection, the result of thirty years labor, the Catalogo ragionato de’ libri d’arte e di antichità.