Giuseppe Gerola (2 April 1877 - 21 September 1938) was an Italian historian known for his involvement in monument restoration projects, his studies on Venetian Crete and his investigation of political, cultural and artistic topics related to

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...

Childhood

Gerola was born in Arsiero to Domenico Gerola and Augusta Cofler. His family were

unificationists Unificationist may refer to: * Unificationist (religion), A member of the Unification Church; not to be confused with Unitarians or Unitarian Universalists * In politics of Australia, a unificationist is a person who favours abolition of the fede ...

originating from

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier b ...

. He spent his childhood in

Lagarina Valley Lagarina Valley ( it, Vallagarina, german: Lagertal) is a valley in northern Italy, used to define the lower mountain course of the Adige River. It is mostly included in the province of Trentino, with the lower section being part of the provinc ...

and completed his high school education in

Desenzano Desenzano del Garda ( lmo, label=Brescian, Dezensà) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy, on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda. It borders the communes of Castiglione delle Stiviere, Lonato, Padenghe sul Gard ...

Education

During 1894-95, Gerola attended the Faculty of Arts in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and then moved to the Institute for Historical Studies of

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 ...

where he graduated in 1898. His teachers included the

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

Cesare Paoli Cesare Paoli (1840–1902), Italian historian and paleographer, was the son of senator Baldassare Paoli. He was born and educated in Florence where at 21 he was given an appointment in the record office. From 1865 to 1871 he was attached to the a ...

and the diplomat and historian Paul Scheffer-Boichorst ( de) whose lectures he attended during a short stay at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

between 1898-99. He also spent some time in Freiburg, here he met the medievalist Heinrich Finke ( de) and started developing his interest in art history and architecture. Gerola was an energetic man with good organizational skills. Both of these virtues were put into good use during his endeavors in the study of paintings, sculpture, architecture or the management of restoration projects.

Career

In 1899, at the suggestion of Federico Halbherr, the

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

Institute of science, literature and the arts commissioned Gerola to carry out a field study in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

with the aim to detect traces of the

domination Domination or dominant may refer to: Society * World domination, which is mainly a conspiracy theory * Colonialism in which one group (usually a nation) invades another region for material gain or to eliminate competition * Chauvinism in which ...

on the island which lasted from 1204 to 1669. During the two and a half years (early 1900 - July 1902) he stayed in Crete, Gerola collected a vast body of material, which he then edited over a period of almost thirty years (between 1905 and 1932). The result of this work was published in four monumental volumes, which earned him the 1933

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

award conferred by the Royal Academy of Italy. These volumes are an invaluable source of information, saving from oblivion dozens of monuments that have been seriously damaged or even destroyed completely in recent years. After returning to Italy, Gerola was appointed as the director of the Museum of Bassano del Grappa (1903–06) and then the Museum of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

(1907–10). In 1909, he was promoted to Superintendent of the Monuments of

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

based in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

, a position he held until 1920. Gerola returned to Greece in 1912 for a field study in the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. ...

islands (then under Italian control) and

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

in particular. In March 1920, he was appointed director of the regional office for the Monuments, Fine Arts and Antiques in

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

. Gerola died in

in 1938.

References

External links

Biography from Treccani.it
1877 births People from Rovereto Republic of Venice Kingdom of Candia 1938 deaths {{Italy-historian-stub

Childhood

Education

Career

See also

References

External links