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Elisa Pucci

Conservative Restoration Officer

Restoration department: bronze artefacts and ancient weaponsTechnical Director

elisa.pucci@cultura.gov.it

Activity information

Curriculum

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Her training began with a diploma from the Liceo Artistico Statale in Lucca. Admitted to the School of Advanced Training of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, she obtained her LMR-02 degree in 2007 with a specialisation in Bronzes and Ancient Arms, with a dissertation on the restoration of Renaissance works: a gilt bronze bas-relief (the door of Cosimo I’s strongbox by Vincenzo Danti) and repoussé iron panels with gold, silver and copper alloy damascening (*Stories of David and Goliath*), with a focus on the recovery of polychromy and surface finishes through laser cleaning. This research, which represents a unique contribution to the field, relates to the technical and decorative practice of historic armour.

First as an intern at the then Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana and the SABAP for the Provinces of Pisa and Livorno (2008–09), then as a freelance conservator, and finally from 2018 as a conservator officer at the Ministry of Culture, she has worked on metal objects of various periods and techniques, ranging from archaeological finds to arms and armour, musical instruments, ecclesiastical furnishings, and Renaissance, 17th-century and modern sculptures.

As a sole trader she participated in tender procedures for the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana: Etruscan bronzetti associated with the cult of sacred waters from Albagino di Bruscoli (Firenzuola) and Poggio Colla (Vicchio), 2017–18; *Storie rubate*, 2016 (restoration of forged bronze and ceramic objects); *Le Armi degli Dei*, 2014–15 (restoration of Negau-Vetulonia type bronze helmets, lead elements, textile traces and iron spearheads from Roselle).

Elisa currently works as a conservator officer in the Bronzes and Ancient Arms Department of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence and as a lecturer at the Institute’s School of Advanced Training and Studies. She collaborates on the research and conservation projects of the department, including the Cross-departmental Archaeological Conservation Service. Since the 2022–23 academic year she has taught at the OPD SAFS and has also lectured on the Master’s Degree Programme in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (LMR/02) at the Istituto Centrale per la Patologia degli Archivi e del Libro in Rome, for PFP 5, second-year students, academic year 2023–24, teaching module “Restoration of seals”.

Many of the projects in which she has been actively involved have been the subject of publications or presentations at conferences and seminars.

Among the most notable projects she has contributed to: study and restoration of several gilt amalgam copper alloy panels from the Baptismal Font of the Baptistery of Siena (2023–24): *Preaching of the Baptist* by Giovanni di Turino (1427) and *Annunciation to Zacharias* by Jacopo della Quercia (1417–30); study and restoration of the diademed female head of Roman date at the MAF (2023); conservation and restoration project for the Winged Victory of Brescia (2018–21); restoration of the jambs of the South, North and East doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence (2015 and 2018), by Lorenzo and Vittore Ghiberti; collaboration on the restoration of the South Door of the Baptistery of Florence (2016–18), by Andrea Pisano (1329–36), and the North Door of the Baptistery of Florence (2013–15), by Lorenzo Ghiberti; conservation and restoration of the *Pulpit of the Resurrection* (2011–13) and the *Pulpit of the Passion* by Donatello and workshop, in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence (2014–16); restoration of the head of Emperor Antoninus Pius from the Veleia excavations (2015); maintenance of the iron tools of the Brunelleschi construction site at Florence Cathedral; restoration of 126 iron punches from the Siries collection and 84 decorative buttons from the Costume Gallery of Palazzo Pitti, Florence (2013); restoration of a 17th-century bronze crucifix attributed to G. B. Foggini from the Ospedale del Ceppo in Pistoia; restoration of two classicising 18th-century male busts in repoussé and silvered copper sheet from the Museo di Casa Siviero in Florence (2011); restoration of the weathervane of Palazzo Vecchio attributed to the school of Michelozzo (2010); research and restoration of bronze, iron and silver archaeological material from the necropolises of Casale Marittimo (2009–10); conservation and technological study of the Etruscan bronze sculpture known as the *Orator* (*Arringatore*) at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze (Tuscany Region ST@RT project, IFAC-CNR, 2009).

In 2023 she obtained a PhD from the SAGAS Department of the University of Florence, with a curriculum in Technologies, Conservation and Restoration of Artistic and Performing Arts Heritage (Scientific Disciplinary Sector L-ART/04), presenting a research project on historicised restorations of large and small ancient bronzes in museum collections, supervised by Marco Ciatti and coordinated by Andrea De Marchi and Cristina Jandelli. This research is currently the subject of specialist publications in the field.