Anna Meschini Pontani
Italian researcher (1949–2021)
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.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q61481413. VIAF identifies the subject as 71514014. The Library of Congress control number is nb99179696. 3 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 2021, 1968 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Anna Meschini Pontani” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.