Professional profile
Heritage Scientist | Research Infrastructure Access Coordinator | Non-invasive Diagnostic Specialist | Spectral Data Analyst | Technical Art History Researcher | Mesoamerican Material Culture Analyst
Heritage Scientist with consolidated experience in diagnostic methodologies for the scientific analysis of cultural heritage. His work focuses on the development and application of non-invasive, multi-analytical approaches for the study of constituent materials, artist’s techniques, and degradation processes in historical and archaeological artefacts, with particular emphasis on in situ investigations using advanced portable instrumentation.
He serves as Access Manager of the MOLAB platform of the Italian node E-RIHS.it, within the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS). At the European level, he is a member of the E-RIHS Central Hub, where he coordinates the Helpdesk and co-supervises access to infrastructure services, contributing to the management of proposal evaluation procedures and to the provision of technical and scientific support to users.
His scientific activity centers on the integrated use of portable spectroscopic techniques, including XRF, UV–VIS–NIR reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy, reflection-mode FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging (VIS and SWIR), aimed at material identification without sampling. He has developed extensive experience in organizing and coordinating multi-analytical measurement campaigns, managing mobile instrumentation, and collecting, processing, and delivering scientific data within national and European research projects.
A central focus of his research concerns the study of pre-Columbian and early colonial pictorial codices and, more broadly, Indigenous material culture of the Mesoamerican region. His approach combines non-invasive spectroscopic investigations, experimental mock-ups, and the development of reference databases for in situ material identification. In this context, he investigates natural dyes, hybrid dye–clay pigments, and organic lakes. Particular attention is devoted to complex material systems such as the so-called “Maya blue,” and more generally to understanding the technologies and material knowledge developed by Indigenous cultures through an interdisciplinary dialogue between materials science, anthropology, and Mesoamerican studies. Initially focused on Mesoamerican manuscripts, his research has recently expanded to include textile artefacts and turquoise mosaics through the PRIN project KNOT (Knowledge of Things: Reassessing the Indigenous American Heritage in Italy).
After earning his PhD in Conservation Science at the University of Florence, he conducted research activities within CNR and subsequently worked for over six years as Conservation Scientist and Head of the Scientific Laboratory at the Center for Art Technological Studies and Conservation (CATS), Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, where he specialized in the analysis of micro-samples and stratigraphic cross-sections using molecular and elemental techniques (FTIR, Raman, SEM-EDX).
In parallel, he is actively involved in the development of tools and procedures for research infrastructure access and for scientific data management in accordance with FAIR principles. In this framework, he participates in the H2IOSC Working Group for the development of the DIGILAB Software Platform, contributing to the definition of solutions for interoperability, digital documentation, and data valorization within the E-RIHS ecosystem.
CNR Disciplinary Fields and Research Management Sectors
- SH8_1 Science and Technologies for Cultural Heritage
- PE4_2 Spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques
- IR - Management of research infrastructures, laboratories and facilities, digital technologies for research
Groups & Labs CNR ISPC
Heritage Materials Science Lab →
Publications
Highlight
D. Buti, C. Grazia, F. Pottier, A. Michelin, C. Andraud, V.M. Lladó-Buisán, D. Domenici, A. Romani, A. Sgamellotti, C. Miliani (2023). Evidence of the Use of a Dye Chemically Related to Commelinin in Mesoamerican Codices. In Dyes in History and Archaeology 37/40 (pp. 26-37). Archetype Books.
C. Grazia, D. Buti, A. Amat, F. Rosi, A. Romani, D. Domenici, A. Sgamellotti, C. Miliani (2020). Shades of blue: non-invasive spectroscopic investigations of Maya blue pigments. From laboratory mock-ups to Mesoamerican codices. Heritage Science. 8, 1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-019-0345-z
