In bookstores in the Cahiers series: “Autobiografia” by Gian Francesco Gamurrini

• A reissue on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of the death of Gian Francesco Gamurrini, an eclectic personality as a scholar and militant archaeologist with a particular interest in the process of acquiring archaeological finds and protecting monuments
• The Autobiography is an original key to the archaeological policy in post-Risorgimento Italy, rich in news about the activity that led Gamurrini to deal with some of the major centers of ancient Etruria such as Arezzo, Orvieto, Chiusi and Fiesole
• This reissue features new texts by scholars and archaeologists on the figure of Gamurrini and the importance of his research

"My dominant thought was not to centralize antiquities in national museums, but that each city should contain and preserve its monuments and objects from its own territory."

Gian Francesco Gamurrini

Written at the age of 86, Gian Francesco Gamurrini's Autobiography traces salient moments of an entire life dedicated to archaeology and the defense of the cultural heritage of the Arezzo area from the raids of speculators and art dealers, especially following the suppression of ecclesiastical institutions. A threat to be avoided at all costs after part of the art treasures had already been dispersed on the international market with the French occupation.
His work as a librarian was carried out with the same civic passion as his work as an archaeologist and defender of cultural heritage, as a contribution to the growth of a national consciousness.
The pages, which describe his travels around Italy to document its epigraphic evidence, are worthy of being placed next to Goethe's Italian Journey, not so much for their description of landscapes or monuments, but rather for that attention - marveled at and typical of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century periegetic literature - to the characters he encountered that make them so vivid as to provide a glimpse into the life of the time.
The volume is enriched by texts by: Sara Faralli, Giulio Firpo, Andrea Gaucci, Giulio Paolucci.

Gian Francesco Gamurrini (Monte San Savino 1835-Arezzo 1923) was an eminent scholar from Arezzo (archaeologist, numismatist, bibliophile, librarian) who left an imprint on the history of the cultural institutions of the city of Arezzo. The Gamurrini Fund is one of the prides of the Library of the Fraternita dei Laici: an archaeological collection, but not only, rich in titles that denote a character with varied and multifaceted interests that went far beyond his specialization.

AUTOBIOGRAFIA
Gian Francesco Gamurrini

Italian Edition

Edited by Sara Faralli
Giulio Firpo
Andrea Gaucci
With texts by Giulio Paolucci
Cahiers, Johan & Levi
23/0320
9788860103338