Giovanni Colonna (born September 4, 1934) is a contemporary Italian scholar of ancient Italy and, in particular, the

Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughl ...

Biography

Colonna is an emeritus professor at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

where he has taught since 1980. He took his first degree at Rome in 1957, studying under

Massimo Pallottino Massimo Pallottino (9 November 1909 in Rome – 7 February 1995 in Rome) was an Italian archaeologist specializing in Etruscan civilization and art. Biography Pallottino was a student of Giulio Quirino Giglioli and worked early in his career on ...

. He studied further at Rome and Athens and was then archaeological superintendent of south Etruria from 1964 until 1972. He has carried out numerous fieldwork campaigns in Etruria (Blera, Bisenzio, Bolsena, Montefiascone, Tuscania, Cerveteri, Ladispoli, Veii) and in other locations (Arcinazzo Romano, Saepinum, valle del Sinello, Festòs). With his wife, Elena Di Paolo, he excavated the necropolis at

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history. ...

and published two volumes: ''Castel d’Asso'' (1970) and ''Norchia I'' (1978). He is well known for his work on the Etruscan site of

Veii Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the ...

and the temple of Apollo at that site. He has also carried out extensive work at

Pyrgi Pyrgi (''Pyrgus'' in Etruscan) was originally an ancient Etruscan town and port in Latium, central Italy, to the north-west of Caere. Its location is now occupied by the borough of Santa Severa. It is notable for the discovery here of the go ...

and is the author of numerous articles and books, now numbering more than 300. Colonna is a member of the

Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

in Rome. In 2005 he was honored with a massive, 4-volume, 2,695 page collection of his work and writing entitled ''Italia ante Romanum imperium: scritti di antichità etrusche, italiche e romane (1958-1998)''.

Publications

Books

G. Colonna and L. Ambrosini. 2002-2009
''Il santuario di Portonaccio a Veio''. Rome: G. Bretschneider.
G. Colonna et al. 2011
''Corollari : scritti di antichità etrusche e italiche in omaggio all'opera di Giovanni Colonna''. Pisa: F. Serra.

References

External links

1934 births Living people Etruscan scholars Italian archaeologists Classical archaeologists {{Etruria-stub