Giovanni Poggi (historian)

Giovanni Poggi (11 February 1880 – 27 March 1961) was an Italian historian and museum curator.

[1][2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Born in Florence to Luigi and Assunta Papini, he graduated in literature from the Istituto di studi superiori di Firenze in 1902 and dedicated his life to archival research and study of the arts, which remained central to his work throughout his life.

[8][9] It had been stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia who hoped to sell it and got in touch with Poggi, who in turn contacted the Florentine art dealer Alfredo Geri to verify the work's authenticity.

[8] Poggi also put in place a plan to protect and safeguard Florence's artworks after Italy's entry into the Second World War in 1940, identifying several safe locations to host the objects and thus ensuring they remained undamaged by bombing and out of reach of Nazi looting.

He retired in 1949 after reaching the age limit for his roles but the Comune di Firenze decided it wished him to continue overseeing the institutes and monuments relating to his own subject areas.