Paola Zancani Montuoro and Umberto Zanotti Bianco on River Sele

Paola Zancani Montuoro (27 February 1901 – 14 August 1987) was an Italian

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, educator and writer who specialized in

ancient Greek art Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...

in Italy. After participating in the restoration of monuments around

Pompei Pompei (; nap, Pumpeje, ) or Pompeii (, as in the name of the ancient city) is a city and commune in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy, home of the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. History ...

, in 1934 together with

Umberto Zanotti Bianco Umberto Zanotti Bianco (22 January 1889 – 28 August 1963) was an Italian historian social activist. He was once President of the Italian Red Cross. Career In 1920, Umberto Zanotti Bianco founded the Società Magna Grecia. In 1955, he co-foun ...

, she embarked on excavation work in

Foce del Sele The Heraion at Foce del Sele (English "Heraion at the mouth of the River Sele") is an archaeological site consisting of an Ancient Greek sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Hera in Magna Grecia (southern Italy). It was originally locat ...

which revealed the Sanctuary of Hera. From 1960, she investigated the ancient sites of

Sybaris Sybaris ( grc, Σύβαρις; it, Sibari) was an important city of Magna Graecia. It was situated in modern Calabria, in southern Italy, between two rivers, the Crathis (Crati) and the Sybaris (Coscile). The city was founded in 720 BC ...

and

Francavilla Marittima Francavilla Marittima is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is known for the Timpone della Motta, a hill which was the site of an Oenotrian and ancient Greek Ancient Greek includ ...

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

. She was an active 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 ...

from 1956, where she served as a correspondent and editor.

Biography

Born on 27 February 1901 in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Montuoro was the daughter of journalist Raffaele Montuoro and his wife Clotilde Arlotta. After completing high school, she studied archaeology at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

where, under Giulio Emanuele Rizzo, she earned a doctorate in 1923. After marrying fellow student Domenico Valentino Zancani, she spent two years in the

Italian School of Archaeology at Athens The Italian School of Archaeology at Athens ( it, Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene (SAIA); el, Ἰταλικὴ Ἀρχαιολογικὴ Σχολὴ Ἀθηνῶν) is one of the 19 foreign archaeological institutes headquartered in Athen ...

, specializing in Greek archaeology. While they were in Athens, her husband died of typhus but Zancani Montuoro continued the research he had begun on the

pinakes The ''Pinakes'' ( grc, Πίνακες "tables", plural of ) is a lost bibliographic work composed by Callimachus (310/305–240 BCE) that is popularly considered to be the first library catalog in the West; its contents were based upon the hold ...

Locri Locri is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. Its name derives from that of the ancient Greek region of Locris. Today it is an important administrative and cultural centre on the Ionia ...

. Focusing on the artefacts of

, she suggested that the goddess or

persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

found in

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

had actually originated in Locri. Her work (1933) attracted the attention of Umberto Zanotti Bianco with whom she embarked on the investigation of the

Heraion at the mouth of the Sele The Heraion at Foce del Sele (English "Heraion at the mouth of the River Sele") is an archaeological site consisting of an Ancient Greek sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Hera in Magna Grecia (southern Italy). It was originally lo ...

, continuing the work after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The excavations were documented in (1951) and in three subsequent volumes. In 1958, the find was claimed to be one of the most important in the archaeology of Italy. From the 1960s and for the rest of her active life, Zancani Montuoro turned her attention to the area around the ancient city of

. With the support of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, substantial excavations were carried out from 1969 to 1976. As chief editor at the Lincean Academy from 1963, Zancani Montuoro edited the reports of the many discoveries made. During the same period, she also correctly identified the importance of the

area, which led to extensive excavations of the acropolis of

Timpone della Motta The Timpone della Motta is a hill 2 km to the southwest of Francavilla Marittima in Calabria, Italy that was inhabited since the Middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, charact ...

and the adjacent Macchiabate necropolis. In collaboration with Dutch archaeologists, she continued her research until the late 1970s. Paola died at her home in the Sant’Agnello di Sorrento district of Naples on 14 August 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zancani Montuoro, Paola 1901 births 1987 deaths People from Naples Italian archaeologists Italian women archaeologists Italian classical scholars University of Naples Federico II alumni Academic staff of the University of Naples Federico II Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy