Riccardo Francovich (

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, 10 June 1946 –

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Sin ...

, Italy, 30 March 2007) was a pioneering Italian archaeologist and expert on Medieval Italy. The son of

Carlo Francovich Carlo Francovich (16 June 1910 - 25 December 1990) was an Italian politician, partisan and literary historian. Life He was born in Fiume or Gorizia, though after the First World War his family moved to Florence, where he attended secondary school. ...

, Francovich was a professor of Medieval archaeology first at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

and, then, from 1986 until his death in 2007, at the

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...

. Many would consider him one of the most influential and important archaeologists of Medieval Italy. Francovich was a pioneer in the world of Italian archaeology. He trained himself in big-scale excavation. He was also one of the first archaeologists to utilize many British methods to his field practice. He was a skilled maker of archaeological parks. In this last task he experienced contrasting results. The park he made at Montarrenti never took off. On the other hand, the one at Rocca San Silvestro, known as the

Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro The Parco archeominerario di San Silvestro (''Archaeological Mines Park of San Silvestro'') is a park in Campiglia Marittima, Tuscany, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in ...

was a huge success. These experiences became the cornerstone of Francovich's career, turning his attention toward landscape architecture. He became a great supporter of local participation in site management. Parco minerario di San Silvestro - Piccolo museo

Parco minerario di San Silvestro - Piccolo museo

Francovich's career as an archaeologist, with specialization in Medieval Archaeology in Italy, spanned nearly three decades. It was his research and excavations in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

that led to it becoming the best-studied region of its kind in Europe. He died in a fall from a height in the forest of Montececeri, near

."Morto il professor Francovich." March 31, 2007 http://ricerca.gelocal.it/iltirreno/archivio/iltirreno/2007/03/31/LFXPO_LF201.html

Works

* Riccardo Francovich, Daniele Manacorda, ''Dizionario di Archeologia'', Editori Laterza, 2004.

Sources

* Full bibliography inkto:https://web.archive.org/web/20030920110908/http://www.archeo.unisi.it/francovich.html* https://web.archive.org/web/20070818185727/http://archeologiamedievale.unisi.it/NewPages/DOTT/riccardo1.html * News coverage of Francovich's death: ''Corriere della Sera'' for 31 March 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francovich, Riccardo 1946 births 2007 deaths Archaeologists from Florence Academic staff of the University of Florence Academic staff of the University of Siena 20th-century archaeologists Medieval archaeologists