Massimo Osanna is Full Professor of Classical Archaeology at the “Federico II” University of Naples, and is Director General of Museums at the Ministry of Culture. Between 2014 and 2020 he directed the Special Superintendence for Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae and then the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
He taught at the University of Basilicata, where he ran the Graduate Programme in Archaeological Heritage in Matera. He taught as a visiting professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and the University of Heidelberg. He has carried out research activities funded by the Humboldt Foundation at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, and also received a grant at the Italian Archaeological School in Athens. He was Superintendent for the Archaeological Heritage of Basilicata.
He has led many years of field research activities in Italy (Torre di Satriano, Ascoli Satriano, Pantelleria, Taureana di Palmi, Gabii) and abroad (Alesia). He currently conducts research with the Ephoria delle Cicladi and the École française d’Athènes on the island of Rheneia.
In Pompeii, he coordinated the securing of the entire city and the restoration of major buildings, together with enhancement and usage projects within the framework of the Great Pompeii Project. He also promoted extensive research in the city’s sanctuaries and public spaces in collaboration with Italian and foreign universities and research institutes, as well as new Regio V excavations.
He is the author of over a hundred essays and monographs dedicated to the archaeology of Greece and ancient Italy, the study of ancient rituals, the reconstruction of settlement patterns and the phenomena of mobility and cultural contacts, as well as aspects of cultural heritage management and conservation.
Since 1 September 2023, he has been Director of the State Museums of the city of Rome.
