Umberto Veronesi is an archaeologist and heritage scientist specialised in the study of pre-modern technologies, with particular interest towards glass making and metallurgy. He received his BA in Archaeology from Sapienza Università di Roma in 2013 and completed the MSc in Archaeological Science at University College London. His Ph.D., also at UCL, explored the practice of early modern alchemy through the analysis of laboratory remains. Umberto collaborates with historians of art and science and his work has been published on archaeological as well as historical scientific journals. He is currently a research fellow at VICARTE, within the project ChromAz: The chromatic journey of the Portuguese azulejo, where he investigates the colour technology of Portuguese tiles through a mixture of scientific analyses and laboratory replications.
Representative works:
Veronesi, U., 2023, The archaeology of alchemy and chemistry: past, present and ideas for the future, Ambix 70(4), 337-356. DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2255766
Veronesi, U., Hanß, S., 2023, “The lute of wisdom”: alchemy, the body and medicine in the material Renaissance, Nuncius 38, 1-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/18253911-bja10054
Veronesi, U., Bandiera, M., Manso, M., Ruivo, A., Vilarigues, M., Coentro, S., 2023, Naples yellow: experimental re-working of historical recipes and the influence of the glazing process in the in situ analysis of historical artwork, Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Cerámica y Vidrio. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bsecv.2023.01.006
Veronesi, U., Rehren, Th., Martinón-Torres, M., 2021. The philosophers and the crucibles. New data on the 17th-18th century remains from the Old Ashmolean laboratory, Oxford, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102684
Veronesi, U., Rehren, Th., Straube, B., Martinón-Torres, M., 2019. Testing the new world. Early modern chemistry and mineral prospection at colonial Jamestown (1607-1610), Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11 (12), 6851–6864. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00945-x
VICARTE 