Antonio Paolucci (19 September 1939 – 4 February 2024) was an Italian

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

, who was Director of the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

between 2007 and 2017. Paolucci also worked in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

, and other Italian cities in national art and cultural institutions. He wrote many books and articles on art history and made television appearances on a variety of programs to explain and promote art. He was the recipient of numerous awards for his work.

Early life

Antonio Paolucci was born in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

on 19 September 1939. His father was an antiques dealer, and Paolucci's passion for art began through his handling of antique objects found in his father's shop. He studied art history in Florence under Roberto Longhi and graduated in 1964. In 1963, before graduating, he began teaching art history to middle school students in Signa. This experience had a marked effect on his future, as he learned how to capture his students' attention and confirmed for him that complex ideas and concepts could be explained in accessible terms. He also taught at other institutions including the University of Florence and the University of Siena.

Professional career

Paolucci's first job as a supervisor was in 1968 at the National Museum of Bargello in Florence. He began working for the Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali for Venice in 1969 and continued there until 1980. After working for the Mantova-Brescia-Cremona region from 1984 to 1986, he moved to the Department of Artistic Affairs of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

in 1988. Prior to becoming director of the Vatican Museums, Paolucci was, for nearly twenty years, the superintendent of the Polo Museale Fiorentino as well as the director general for cultural heritage in Tuscany. His responsibilities included overseeing sites in Florence such as the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens, and the Workshop of Precious Stones (for which he was the director from 1986 to 1988), along with many other sites of significant artistic heritage. He also held the position of Minister of Cultural Heritage from January 1995 to May 1996 under the technical government of

Lamberto Dini Lamberto Dini (; born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Italian Minister of the Treasury, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st Prime Minister of Ital ...

. Paolucci was appointed the extraordinary commissioner for the restoration of the

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (; ) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in central Italy, where Saint Francis was born and died. It is a papal minor basilica ...

after the earthquake that struck on 26 September 1997 caused considerable damage to the patrimony of the basilica.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

appointed Paolucci Director of the

in 2007. His tenure was marked by an increase in visitors from about 4.3 million in 2007 to over 6m in 2015 (and well over 6 million in 2016, according to Barbara Jatta, the vice director). In order to counteract the potential damage to the frescoes that large crowds and the high levels of CO₂, dust and perspiration they bring, Paolucci upgraded the climate control system in the

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...

in 2014, replacing the original air conditioning system installed in 1993 which was designed to manage up to 700 visitors at a time (while presently up to 2000 visitors at a time are allowed in). At the same time, a new lighting system was put in place using about 7000 LEDs to better illuminate the entire chapel at a lower cost. Also under Paolucci's direction visiting hours of the museums were extended into the evenings, and an online system was launched for the public to make their reservations. Paolucci retired from the Vatican Museums in 2017, and was succeeded by Jatta.

Major works published

Paolucci published numerous

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

s and books including works on:

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca ( , ; ; ; – 12 October 1492) was an Italian Renaissance painter, Italian painter, mathematician and List of geometers, geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is charact ...

, Luca Signorelli, Antoniazzo Romano,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, Filippo Lippi,

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

, Cellini, Giambologna, and the Sistine Chapel, as well as other works on restoration techniques and art history in general. His works have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, as well as other languages.

Personal life and death

Paolucci and his wife, Giulia, also an art historian, were married from 1966 and had one son, Fabrizio. Antonio Paolucci died in

on 4 February 2024, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paolucci, Antonio 1939 births 2024 deaths Directors of museums in Italy Italian art historians Ministers of culture of Italy People from Rimini Italian art curators Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great Knights of the Legion of Honour