10 Facts About Massimo Pallottino

Massimo Pallottino was an Italian archaeologist specializing in Etruscan civilization and art.

In essence Massimo Pallottino created the modern discipline of Etruscology and trained many of its leading practitioners.

Massimo Pallottino was influential in establishing the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi e Italici and its journal, Studi Etruschi.

Massimo Pallottino was a member of the faculty of the Universita di Roma, "La Sapienza".

In 1937, Pallottino wrote an article debunking the so-called "Etruscan Warrior" purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a forgery.

Richter remained unconvinced, but Massimo Pallottino was ultimately proven correct by the scholar Harold Parsons in 1961.

Massimo Pallottino pointed out the Greek Hellenized world from which Etruscan art emerged.

Massimo Pallottino wrote the volume on Etruscan Painting for Albert Skira's series on Great Centuries of Painting.

Massimo Pallottino won the Balzan Prize in 1982 for Sciences of Antiquity: "For his research work and discoveries of outstanding importance carried out in the field of the sciences of antiquity through the excavation of Pyrgi, his contribution to the interpretation of the Etruscan language and his revealing research on the origins of ancient Rome and the peoples of pre-Roman Italy".

Massimo Pallottino died of a heart attack at his home in Rome on 7 February 1995.