Story

The Egyptological Collections “Edda Bresciani” of the University of Pisa were founded in 1962, thanks to a first donation made by Laura Birga Picozzi, a descendant of the family of Ippolito Rosellini, who was the founder of Italian Egyptology.

Rosellini together with J.-F. Champollion, led the famous Franco-Tuscan Expedition to Egypt and Nubia (1828-1829), the basis for the study of ancient Egypt. In 1964 the Schiff Giorgini Collection was added to the Picozzi Collection. The Schiff Giorgini Collection consists of about four hundred objects of exceptional value, coming from the excavations conducted by Michela Schiff Giorgini in Sudan under the patronage of the University of Pisa. In 1968 the Ostraka collection from Oxyrhynchus was added to the Egyptological Collection of the University of Pisa. This new collection consists of one thousand five hundred fragments of terracotta pottery (used in ancient times as a writing support), inscribed with demotic texts illustrating the life of a small oasis in Roman Egypt. The A. E. Breccia Archive, donated to the University of Pisa by the scholar’s wife in 1967, together with other material from private donations and material from excavations conducted in Egypt by the University of Pisa are also part of the Egyptological Collections.

All the objects that arrived with these donations were initially displayed in a room on the ground floor of Palazzo Ricci, in Via Santa Maria. In 1994 the Egyptological Collections were moved to the first floor of the palace in Via S.Frediano, 12, where they still are.

From 16 July 2021, the Egyptological Collections are named after Edda Bresciani, Professor Emeritus of the University of Pisa, who passed away on 29 November 2020. Edda Bresciani was one of the world’s leading authorities on Egyptology: during her long academic career, she brought prestige and distinction to the University of Pisa through her outstanding scientific activity.

Breccia Archive

The correspondence of Breccia has recently been reorganized and inventoried and can be consulted online.

Consult it

For the consultation of the original documents and for more information, please contact: Flora Silvano flora.silvano@unipi.it (+39) 050-2215579