Guido Libertini direttore della Scuola di Atene alla vigilia del conflitto italo-ellenico (1939-1940)

GUIDO LIBERTINI, DIRECTOR OF THE ATHENS SCHOOL ON THE EVE OF THE GREEK-ITALIAN CONFLICT (1939-1940). Guido Libertini became Director of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens in 1940, after the removal of Alessandro Della Seta for racial reasons, in a delicate moment because of the coolness of the Greek-Italian relations on the eve of the war between the two countries. Libertini undertook a new mission to Pallantium and on Lemnos, continued with the excavations of the theatre at Hephaistia and the Cabirion at Chloi. However his main task was in Athens regarding the administration of the School and support of diplomatic relations between Italy and Greece in the cultural sphere, a task that suited him. He may have been chosen to hold the Director’s position for this reason.With the outbreak of war, Libertini was relieved of his position, yet, one year later, he was appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draft a report on the cultural situation in Greece. He came back to Athens to visit the School for the last time in 1953, the year of his death.