FSU classics professor named 2025-2026 Getty Scholar for Roman archaeology and antiquity research 

A Florida State University Department of Classics researcher has been named a 2025-2026 Getty Scholar for his work in Roman archaeology, visual culture, the social history of Rome’s eastern provinces and ancient colonization.

Professor of Classics Andrea De Giorgi will use the residential fellowship to explore the topic of repair for the 40th anniversary of the Getty Research Institute’s Getty Scholars Program. In addition to researching this topic, De Giorgi will engage with prestigious libraries and collections through the Getty Villa Scholars Program at the Villa and the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, Calif. under the theme of religious experience in antiquity.

“Being named a Getty Scholar is one of the highest honors in the field of ancient visual culture, and it is a great privilege to be part of the Getty Villa community,” said De Giorgi, who joined FSU’s faculty in 2012. “I am especially proud to be the first scholar from FSU to receive this distinction.”

Since its inception in 1985, the Getty Scholars Program has supported about 1,300 scholars from more than 50 countries around the world and provides a space at the Getty Center and Getty Villa for interdisciplinary collaboration and scholarship that contributes to broader public understanding of cultural heritage.

“Being named a Getty Scholar is one of the highest honors in the field of ancient visual culture, and it is a great privilege to be part of the Getty Villa community. I am especially proud to be the first scholar from FSU to receive this distinction.”

— Andrea De Giorgi, professor of Classics

“The project I’ll explore through this fellowship investigates ancient Daphne, a site of extraordinary significance in antiquity located in modern-day Harbiye, Turkey,” De Giorgi said. “My project draws on excavation data from this site, which is nestled within an idyllic landscape of springs, from 1932 to 1939. At one point, Daphne was home to a synagogue, an oracle of Apollo, pagan sanctuaries, and eventually Christian churches. The plateau was a central hub for parades, festivals, sacred rites and at times, violent conflicts.”

One of the goals of this project is to create a coherent and dynamic topography of the land, challenging and revising long-held narratives of the area. While the archaeological record of that time is fragmented, De Giorgi will integrate disconnected excavation units, mosaic pavements, ancient houses and previously undocumented monumental features to present a more complete topography of Daphne.

“Another aim of my project is to shift the focus of this area to a human scale by tracing the movements, encounters and religious experiences of the throngs of visiting worshippers and inhabitants of the site,” De Giorgi said. “By reconstructing ground-level perspectives, the project explores the material and social dimensions of ritual practice and inter-religious interactions.”

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in classics from Università di Torino in Torino, Italy, in 1996, De Giorgi earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in classical and near eastern archaeology from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, in 2001 and 2006.

Since 2013, he has directed FSU’s Cosa Excavations in Cosa, Italy, an ongoing excavation focused on a bath establishment as well as on the investigation of the fortifications and the commercial areas of the Roman colony.

De Giorgi also co-directs the Montereggi Archaeological Project, a three-year excavation in Italy begun in summer 2024, which seeks to uncover the history of an ancient Etruscan hilltop settlement predating ancient Roman communities. Previously, De Giorgi directed excavations and surveys in countries including Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Georgia and the United Arab Emirates.

“De Giorgi is precisely the type of scholar the Getty Scholars Program seeks to support. His work is innovative, collaborative and interdisciplinary. Moreover, his pathbreaking and wide-ranging research has developed new audiences for the study of the ancient world.”

— Tim Stover, Department of Classics chair

“De Giorgi is precisely the type of scholar the Getty Scholars Program seeks to support. His work is innovative, collaborative and interdisciplinary,” said Tim Stover, Department of Classics chair. “Moreover, his pathbreaking and wide-ranging research has developed new audiences for the study of the ancient world.”

His scholarship continues to attract exceptional graduate students to FSU’s Department of Classics. Over the years, he has mentored a notable number of master’s and doctoral candidates—highlighting both the impact of his research and his strength as a mentor. Being named a Getty Scholar is a prestigious honor that recognizes De Giorgi’s achievements and brings distinction to the university.

Throughout his career, De Giorgi has earned nearly 30 awards, honors and fellowships and 18 grants supporting his research, which also encompasses Late Antiquity — an era of political and religious transformation generally spanning the 4th through 6th century C.E. in Europe, marking the decline of the Western Roman Empire. He has authored three books and edited 40. In 2023, he was named a fellow of the National Humanities Center.

To learn more about De Giorgi’s work and research conducted in the Department of Classics, visit classics.fsu.edu.

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