Monsignor Antonio Maria de Lorenzo (1835-1904), a pioneer of archaeological research in Reggio Calabria, was one of the promoters of the establishment of the Civic Museum, of which he was the deputy director when it opened in 1882. From the same year, he conducted systematic archaeological excavations in the city area and contributed to the publication of all the data collected during his investigations. His research work, of fundamental importance for the knowledge gained about the urban area, was the basis for the production of the first archaeological map of the city of the Strait, a document compiled in 1893. He became Archbishop of Miletus in 1889 and concluded his work in the city of Rome with the title of Archbishop of Seleucia and Consultant to the Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics.

Paolo Orsi, born on 17 October 1859 in Rovereto (TN), became Inspector of excavations, museums and galleries in Syracuse in 1888, a job that allowed him to deal with the Greek colonies in Sicily. At the same time, he was responsible for the start of the great season of discoveries in Locri, he also became Director of the museum in Syracuse and became Regent of the Royal Museum of Naples. Having matured his knowledge of the Calabrian territory and realising the need for protective measures, he asked the Ministry to set up a Museum in Reggio Calabria and an autonomous Directorate of Excavations in Calabria, of which he became Superintendent a few years later. Among the numerous field studies he conducted were those in Locri, at the Mannella sanctuary and the temple of Casa Marafioti, in Canale and Janchina and at the Heraion of Capo Colonna. Together with Umberto Zanotti Bianco, he participated in the activities of the ‘Magna Grecia Society’; he also promoted the foundation of the ‘Historical Archive for Calabria and Lucania’. In the autumn of 1934 Orsi returned to Rovereto where he died the following year.

Edoardo Galli was born in Maierà (CS) on 3 May 1880. After finishing his studies in Rome, he became Deputy Secretary and Inspector of the National Museum of Bargello in Florence in 1907, then moved on to the Topographical Museum of Etruria, of which he became director. In 1924, he was entrusted with the ‘single’ Superintendency of Antiquities and Mediaeval and Modern Art in Calabria. In the following year, the Bruzio-Lucana Superintendency was established and he became its Superintendent until 1936. Thanks to the intervention of the Magna Grecia Society, he continued his studies of the Doric temple of Metapontum, known as the ‘Tavole Palatine’, and began a research programme in the Plain of Sybaris, which led to the identification in 1932 of the Copia colony. His fervent research activity focused on the indigenous sites Francavilla Marittima, Amendolara, the theatre of Gioiosa Marina and archaic Crotone. In Reggio Calabria, he brought to light a necropolis from the Hellenistic period discovered during excavation work for the construction of the Museum. He is credited with the establishment of the Royal National and Central Museum of Magna Graecia in Reggio Calabria. In 1936, he was transferred to Ancona as Superintendent of the Abruzzi and Dalmatian Marches. Assigned to the Library of the Institute of Archaeology and History of Art at Palazzo Venezia, he moved to Rome in 1946. He died in Rome in 1954.

Paolo Enrico Arias was born in Vittoria (RG) on 17 July 1907. After completing his studies at the Scuola Normale in Pisa in 1934, he became an inspector in Ragusa. He became Superintendent in Calabria in 1939. His first activities in the area saw him active in Rosarno and Locri, continuing Orsi’s studies. Thanks to his knowledge of theatre architecture, he identified the theatre in Locri near the Casa Marafioti temple. In 1946 he was transferred to Bologna and worked to reactivate the office after the war; two years later he was professor of Greek and Roman history at the University of Bologna. He returned to Sicily where he won the competition for full professor at the University of Catania. In 1962, he took up a post at the Normale in Pisa where he became deputy director and set up the special school for archaeologists. For his scientific merits he was appointed a member of the National Council of Cultural Heritage and a member of the Accademia dei Lincei. He died in Pisa in 1998.

Alfonso De Franciscis was born in Naples 7 November 1915. He graduated from the University ‘Federico II’ and attended the Italian Archaeological School in Athens between 1939 and 1940. In 1949, he became an archaeological inspector at the Superintendency of Antiquities in Naples. In 1954 he was appointed Superintendent in Reggio Calabria where he remained until 1961, during the same years he was appointed Professor of Archaeology and History of Art at the University of Messina. During his stay in Calabria he reorganised and inaugurated the exhibition of the Museum of Reggio conducted excavations in Reggio, Crotone and especially in Locri Epizefiri where he recovered the bronze tablets from the archives of the temple of Zeus. In 1961 he became Superintendent of Antiquities in Naples, professor at the Federico II University and Director of the Institute of Archaeology. Among his many activities, he worked on the Villa of the Papyri, brought to light the remains of the Augustan temple at Pozzuoli; at Herculaneum he led excavations of the decumanus maximus and the construction of a new Antiquarium. In Pompeii, alongside numerous excavation activities, he focused his scientific attention on the instrumentum domesticum. He founded and directed the magazines ‘Klearchos’, ‘Cronache pompeiane’, ‘Apollo’ and ‘Campania sacra’ for many years. He died in Naples in 1989