Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli

 Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli was born in Siena in 1900: he was an internationally best known archeologist and professor of Greek and Roman History of Arts, teaching at the University of Cagliari, Groningen, Pisa, Florence and Rome. From 1945 to 1948 he has been working as General Director of Antichità and Belle Arti reorganizing Italian museums and restoring the monuments that had been damaged during the Second World War. He was interested in Etruscan, Greek, Roman and Byzantine art, in particular in plastic forms involving some aspects of contemporary art.

From 1958 to 1967 he was the editor-in-chief of the Eastern and Classic Art Encyclopedia.
At the beginning of his career he took an interest in the territories of Siena and Valdelsa producing the cornerstones of Etruscology of this area, still read and used for all Etruscan studies. From his first works the Monograph on Siena and Valdelsa stands out describing his searches and trying to find a link among the different Etruscan traces in this area (“Materiali archeologici del territorio di Siena e della Valdelsa” on La Balzana, n.s., II, March-April 1928, pages 37-42, La Balzana, II, 3rd May-June, 1928, pages 71-84, La Balzana, II 5th September-October 1928, pages 162-171).