Luigi Pigorini (10 January 1842 – 1 April 1925) was an Italian palaeoethnologist,

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

Biography

Pigorini was born at

Fontanellato Fontanellato (Parmigiano dialect, Parmigiano: ) is a small town in the province of Parma, in northern Italy. It lies on the plains of the River Po near the Autostrada A1 (Italy), A1 autostrada, about west of Parma towards Piacenza. The town was ...

, near

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. At the age of sixteen years, in 1858, he became an

alumnus Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

of the Museo d'Antichità di Parma (Museum of Antiquities of Parma, no
Parma Archaeological Museum
. He later encountered Pellegrino Strobel, the professor of

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

at the

University of Parma The University of Parma () is a public university located in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Organized into nine departments, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. As of 2016, it had approximately 26,000 students. History During the ...

and

Gaetano Chierici Gaetano Chierici (1838–1920) was an Italian painter, mainly of genre works. Biography He was born in Reggio Emilia, and attended the Reggio Emilia School of Fine Arts in 1850 and 1851. Chierici continued his studies at the academies of Modena a ...

, director of the Gabinetto di Antichità Patrie di Reggio Emilia or Cabinet of Antiquities of the native land of Reggio Emilia (now Musei Civici di Reggio Emili

and began archaeological research in the territory of Parmesan. In 1863, he began to travel in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

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 ...

, and also studied in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. He ran a course in Parma where he resorted to various materials in order to explain the uses and the functions of

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

tools. A few years later after becoming a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Political and Administrative Sciences he became director of the Museum of Antiquity of Parma. In 1875, he founded with Chierici and Strobel a paleoethnological journal ''Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana'' and, in the same year, began working in the Archaeological Director General's office in Rome (Direzione Generale dei Musei e degli Scavi d'Antichità del Regno a Roma) where he proposed to the Minister of Public education, Bonghi, the foundation of the

Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography The "Luigi Pigorini" National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography was a public and research museum located in Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the ...

in Rome, that was inaugurated in 1876 and which bears his name. For his outstanding contribution to Italian archaeology he was nominated a Senatore a vita in 1912 and was vice president of the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic (), or simply the Senate ( ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform iden ...

in 1919 remaining so until his death in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

in 1925.

Achievements

Pigorini's work with Strobel on the lake-dwelling Terramara is a seminal work of prehistory informed by uniting

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

palynology Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

to build a complete picture of these

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

communities.

Selected works

* with Strobel ''Le terremare e le palafitte del Parmense (subtitle) seconda relazione del prof. P. Strobel e di L. Pigorini'' Tipi di G. Bernadoni, Milano (1864) - also in parts in ''Atti della Società italiana di Scienze Naturali (Milan)''. *with Lubbock, John. Notes on the hut-urns and other objects discovered in an ancient cemetery in the commune of Marino (province of Rome) ead to the Society of Antiquaries 2 April 1868 ''Archaeologia'' 42: 103— (1868) *'Inchiesta sul Museo di

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It is named after Pope Julius III, who had it built in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan ...

', ''Supplemento al Bollettino Ufficiale del Ministero dell'Istruzione Pubblica'' 26 (1899) (ed. L. Pigorini), 1107-1142 (1899) *'Pani di rame provenienti dall'Egeo e scoperti a Serra Ilixi in provincia di Cagliari', ''Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana'' 10: 91-107 (1904). *A complete list of Pignori's papers in ''Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana'' is here
contents

Sources

*Duhn, Friedrich von Rellini, U. Necrologio del prof. L. Pigorini Vorgeschichtliches Jahrbuch, 3:274. Berlin, 1927. *Brizzi, Bruno d.1976 ''The Pigorini Museum'' Rome, Quasar. *Italian Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Pigorini, Luigi 1842 births 1925 deaths People from the Province of Parma Italian archaeologists Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy