Anna Meschini Pontani

Anna Meschini Pontani
Born
Anna Meschini

(1949-02-11)February 11, 1949
Affile, Latium, Italy
DiedNovember 20, 2021(2021-11-20) (aged 72)
Padua, Veneto, Italy
OccupationUniversity professor
SpouseFilippo Maria Pontani
ChildrenFilippomaria Pontani
Academic background
EducationSapienza University of Rome
Academic work
DisciplineClassics
Sub-discipline
Byzantine philology • Renaissance studies
InstitutionsUniversity of Padua

Anna Pontani (née Meschini; 11 February 1949 – 20 November 2021) was an Italian Byzantinist and scholar of the Renaissance, professor in Byzantine philology at the University of Padua.

Biography

Born in Affile in a working-class family — her father was a railway worker, her mother a workwoman at the Snia —, Meschini studied at the "Mancinelli" lyceum in Velletri and graduated from the Sapienza University of Rome (1968–1972) defending a thesis on Euripides' Rhesus. In 1972 she was nominated Research assistant at the University of Padua, invited by Filippo Maria Pontani, then-professor of Byzantine studies. In 1980 she became associate professor, and was promoted Professor in Byzantine studies in 1987. She taught in Padua until her retirement in 2019.

She and Filippo Maria Pontani married in 1975 and remained together until his premature death in 1983. Their only son, Filippomaria, is (2025) Professor in Classical philology at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice and fellow of the Accademia dei Lincei.

She died in 2021 in Padua.

Research activity

Meschini Pontani edited, translated and commented the Chronological narration by Niketas Choniates, in three volumes. She is best known, however, as a leading scholar in Renaissance studies, and a specialist of Greek scholars and studies in the Italian Renaissance.

Publications

Meschini Pontani's kleine Schriften on Greek studies in the Italian Renaissance were collected and reprinted immediately after her death, in four volumes (Meschini Pontani 2022, 2023a, 2023b, 2024). The full list of her publications in Meschini Pontani 2022, pp. XIX–XXIII.

Books

  • Meschini Pontani, A. (1972). Il codice Vallicelliano di Areta. Quaderni, 4. Padua: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e Neogreci.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (1973). Cristoforo Kondoleon. Studi Bizantini e Neogreci, 6. Padua: Liviana.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (1974). La monodia di Stafidakis. Quaderni, 4. Padua: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e Neogreci.
  • Làskaris, G. (1976). Meschini Pontani, A. (ed.). Epigrammi greci. Studi Bizantini e Neogreci, 9. Padua: Liviana.
  • Moschus, D. (1977). La storia di Elena e Alessandro. Quaderni, 13. Padua: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e Neogreci.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (1978). Teodoro Rendios. Studi Bizantini e Neogreci, 11. Padua: Liviana.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (1981). Michele Sofianòs. Studi Bizantini e Neogreci, 12. Padua: Liviana.
  • Choniates, N. (1994). Maisano, R.; Kazhdan, A.; Meschini Pontani, A. (eds.). Grandezza e catastrofe di Bisanzio (Narrazione cronologica). Vol. I. Libri I–VIII. Rome: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.
  • Choniates, N. (1999). Dieten, J.-L. (van); Meschini Pontani, A. (eds.). Grandezza e catastrofe di Bisanzio (Narrazione cronologica). Vol. II. Libri IX–XIV. Rome: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla. ISBN 88-04-46636-7.
  • Choniates, N. (2014). Dieten, J.-L. (van); Meschini Pontani, A.; Pontani, F. (eds.). Grandezza e catastrofe di Bisanzio (Narrazione cronologica). Vol. III. Libri XV–XIX. Rome: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla. ISBN 978-88-04-63498-0.
  • Choniates, N. (2017). Cavallo, G.; Dieten, J.-L. (van); Meschini Pontani, A. (eds.). Grandezza e catastrofe di Bisanzio (Narrazione cronologica). Vol. I. Libri I–VIII (2nd ed.). Rome: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla. ISBN 978-88-04-66451-2.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (2022). Pontani, F. (ed.). Filologia umanistica greca. Opuscula collecta, 20. Vol. I. Da Manuele Crisolora a Michele Apostolis. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura. ISBN 978-88-9359-713-5.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (2023a). Pontani, F. (ed.). Filologia umanistica greca. Opuscula collecta, 21. Vol. II. Giano Làskaris. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura. ISBN 978-88-9359-715-9.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (2023b). Pontani, F. (ed.). Filologia umanistica greca. Opuscula collecta, 23. Vol. IV. Epigrammi e dintorni: Musuro, Bonamico e altri. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura. ISBN 978-88-9359-773-9.
  • Meschini Pontani, A. (2024). Pontani, F. (ed.). Filologia umanistica greca. Opuscula collecta, 22. Vol. III. Da Demetrio Mosco a Teodoro Rendios. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura. ISBN 978-88-9359-771-5.

Articles

References

  1. ↑ A. Meschini Pontani signed her publications alternatively using her family name (e.g. Meschini Pontani 1982b) or her husband's family name (Pontani). Throughout this article, the double form "Meschini Pontani" is normalized for consistency.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Pontani 2022, p. VII.
  3. ↑ Pontani 2022, p. X.
  4. ↑ On F. M. Pontani, see Meschini Pontani 2015a.
  5. ↑ "Filippomaria Pontani". Università Ca' Foscari Venezia (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  6. ↑ "Pontani, Filippomaria | Accademia Dei Lincei". www.lincei.it. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  7. ↑ Choniates 1994, 1999, 2014, 2017.
  8. ↑ Review of Wilson 1992, here cited because it expands to an essay on the Greek studies in Italian Renaissance.

Bibliography