TURSCNA-TUSCANA-TOSCANELLA TUSCANIA Study Day for Maria Donatella Gentili

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, a study day dedicated to Maria Donatella Gentili, entitled "Turscna - Tuscana - Tuscanella - Tuscania," will be held at the National Archaeological Museum of Tuscania.
The day, which will feature alternating talks focused on the important recovery, by the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Heritage, of two fictile sarcophagi illegally stolen from the Tuscanian territory and found at the free port of Geneva in 2016, will be an opportunity to remember and outline the figure of Maria Donatella Gentili, a talented scholar and professor of Etruscology at the University of Tor Vergata, who has devoted part of her studies precisely to the analysis of Etruscan terracotta sarcophagi of the Hellenistic age, who was moreover called by the Preservation Command to carry out an initial expert report on the sarcophagi during the seizure operation.

The study meeting, organized by the Lazio Regional Museums Directorate, theVincenzo Campanari Study Association and theInstitute of Cultural Heritage Sciences of the CNR, is the result of a synergy between these entities that is the result of an agreement entered into for the study and valorization of fictile sarcophagi recovered in Geneva. The results of the studies and non-invasive scientific analyses carried out on the two artifacts will be presented to the public for the first time at this study meeting, where it will be possible to admire the two sarcophagi, the result of a complex recovery operation. In 2016, in fact, the Carabinieri's Cultural Heritage Protection Command kicked off Operation "Antiche Dimore," identifying hundreds of Greek, Etruscan and Roman artifacts in Geneva that had been illegally found and exported outside Italian borders, and facilitating the recovery and return operations of a huge historical and artistic heritage. The material had been hidden in some warehouses in Switzerland by a British art dealer, known to Carabinieri for having already sold Italian artworks directly or through international auction houses to famous museums. The objects were destined for the British, Japanese and American markets; among them were the two Etruscan sarcophagi of the Hellenistic age from the Tuscania area, which were recovered by the Comando Tutela and later handed over to the National Archaeological Museum in Tuscania. The two specimens were found to be in excellent condition with obvious signs of polychromy.

Speakers at the meeting will include the Regional Director of Museums Lazio, Stefano Petrocchi, the President of the Vincenzo Campanari Studies Association, Francesco Buranelli, the Director of the Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences of the CNR, Costanza Miliani, heads of the organizations promoting the day, the Superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the province of Viterbo and southern Etruria, Margherita Eichberg, and the Commander of the Archaeology section of the Operational Department of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command, Lieutenant Colonel Paolo Salvatori.
The study day will kick off with a remembrance of the scholar by friends and colleagues, it will also be possible to see the sarcophagi thanks to a special tour of the museum, and in the afternoon, a session dedicated to an in-depth study of the relationship between the Etruscan city and the surrounding area by renowned scholars and teachers will take place.
The event, sponsored by the National Institute of Etruscan and Italic Studies, the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the province of Viterbo and southern Etruria and the Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale will be free admission, but reservations are required by 2/10 at the email: associazionevincenzocampanari@gmail.com

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