My research interests span between the history of ancient art and the history of collecting. In particular, my studies entail research in the perception of objects of applied arts from the late-Antiquity. I am now working on a PhD thesis on Gaetano Marini (1742-1815), an Italian librarian and polymath scholar who became prefect of the Vatican Archives in 1782.

During the course of his long career, Gaetano Marini published a great number of books and essays on Greek and Latin palaeography, History, Archaeology, Numismatics, and History of Collecting. My research focuses on the study of Marini’s unpublished work “Inscriptiones Christianae Latinae et Grecae Aevi Milliarii,” a diverse collection of Christian Greek and Latin inscriptions from the first ten centuries, rich with more than nine thousand monuments inscribed with a range of different subjects.

My research goal consists of the preparation of a critical edition of the “Inscriptiones.” This study will allow access to an enormous group of drawings (collected during the 1780s and 1790s) from after the antique (ca. 300-1000 AD), which may still be appreciated as a unique resource for the history of early nineteenth-century antiquarianism in Rome. Eventually, I hope my research will open the door for further study into the reception, collecting and appropriation of antiquities, for not only the early modern period, but also modern Rome.

Please send your donations in support of my PhD research following this link: https://www.facebook.com/donate/305993626557081/ Thank you.