Mario Torelli (May 12, 1937 – September 15, 2020) was an Italian scholar of Italic archaeology and the culture of the
Etruscans. He taught at the
University of Perugia.
He held many posts during his professional life, beginning as an assistant at the center for ancient art history in
Rome (1960–1962), followed by a stint as archaeological inspector of the
Villa Giulia Museum in Rome (1964–1969). He was appointed a professor of
Greek and
Roman art history at the
University of Cagliari in 1969, and served in that position until 1973. He was also instrumental in the excavations of the sanctuary at the site of
Gravisca.[1] Torelli joined the faculty of the
University of Perugia in 1975; he was appointed as full professor (professore ordinario) of Archaeology and the History of Greek and Roman Art on 1 November 1976. His position was supplemented with appointments that included the areas of Magna Graecia (1995-2000) and Etruscan and Italic Archaeology (from 2000).[2]
During his long archaeological career, Torelli directed and supervised a number of archaeological excavations. These included work on the Etruscan sanctuary of
Menerva at
Santa Marinella (1964-1966),[3] the Etruscan sanctuary of the Porta Caere at
Veii (1966-1969),[4] the Greek mercantile sanctuary of
Gravisca (1969-1979),[5] the extra-urban sanctuary of Aphrodite-Venus at
Paestum (1982-1985),[6] and excavations at
Heraclea that included the sanctuary of Demeter (1985-1986) and the agora (1987-1991).
He was a member of the
Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, and a member of the
Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi in
Florence. In 2013 Torelli received an honorary doctoral degree honoris causa from the
Universidad de Jaén.[11] On September 8, 2014, Torelli was awarded the Balzan Prize for Classical archaeology.[12]Giorgio Napolitano, then president of the Republic of Italy, presented Torelli with the award in Rome on November 20, 2014.[13] The citation praises the "innovative character" of Torelli's work and his deep commitment to archaeology. Torelli died in Donnalucata di Scicli (Ragusa), Sicily.
(with Elisa Marroni) CASTRUM INUI. Il santuario di Inuus alla foce del Fosso dell’Incastro (Monumenti Antichi, 76 – serie misc. 21). (G. Bretschneider, 2018).
ISBN978-88-7689-302-5; ISSN:0391-8084
[Festschriften] Angiolillo, Simonetta and Marco Giuman, Marco. Il vasaio e le sue storie : giornata di studi sulla ceramica attica in onore di Mario Torelli per i suoi settanta anni, [Cagliari, Cittadella dei Musei, aula verde, 20 giugno 2007] (Cagliari : Edizioni AV, 2007); Elisa Marroni; Concetta Masseria; Mario Torelli. Dialogando : studi in onore di Mario Torelli (Pisa : ETS, 2017)
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