Giuseppe Lugli

Who was Giuseppe Lugli?

Giuseppe Lugli was Professor of ancient Roman topography at the University of Rome from 1933 to 1961.

Lugli's academic career began with the completion of his undergraduate "Laurea" degree at Università di Roma La Sapienza in 1913, where he wrote a thesis on the villa of the emperor Domitian at Castel Gandolfo.

Lugli's career was prolific, although among his many significant contributions, several are paramount. He is credited with more than 230 scholarly publications. In his topographical career, Lugli compiled the landmark Fontes ad topographiam veteris urbis Romae pertinentes. The aim of this corpus was to collect all of the textual mentions in the ancient sources that pertain to the topography and monuments of Rome. The work is organized according to the Augustan regions of the city.

Lugli was also a student of architecture, and in particular of building techniques. His study La tecnica edilizia romana: con particolare riguardo a Roma e Lazio, Roma remains a seminal study of the technology of construction in Italy during the 1st millennium B.C.

Lugli also founded the Forma Italiae, a series of archaeological maps and concordance for Italy.