Caterina Bon Valsassina

He graduated in Modern Art History at the University of Florence in 1977 with prof . Mina Gregori .

Fellow at the ” Roberto Longhi Foundation ” for the next two years , she won the contest of Art Historian Inspector at the Ministry of Culture in 1980 , serving in the Superintendences for the Historical and Artistic Heritage in Naples, Rome , Perugia and at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.

For a brief period (1987-1988) , after winning the contest assigned to the Institutes of Culture, held by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs , she served at the Italian Institute of Culture in Nairobi, Kenya .

During her activity as official in various places , she directed the Laboratory of restoration of the Superintendence of Rome and Perugia, she directed the Museum of Palazzo Ducale in Gubbio and the Museum of Rocca Albornoziana in Spoleto . Among the main directions of restoration works it must be mentioned the restoration of the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia, furniture works and decorations financed by the Special Law for the town of Todi and Orvieto. On behalf of Mario Serio, General Director of Central Office for Heritage A.A.A.S. she was in charge at the technical and organizational secretary of the exhibition ” The idea of beauty. Travel to the Seventeenth century Rome with Giovan Pietro Bellori “(Rome , Palazzo delle Esposizioni , 2000, Commissioner of the exhibition Evelina Borea ) .

In 2001 she was appointed Superintendent of the Historical and Artistic Heritage of Milan and Western Lombardy; from 2002 to 2009 she was Director of the Central Institute for Restoration , promoting the know-how in the field of conservation and restoration abroad, particularly in China, India, Peru , Egypt; from 2009 to 2010 she was Superintendent of the Special Superintendence for the Museum Center of Venice; in April 2010 she was appointed Regional Director for Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Lombardy.

Vice President of the FAI from 2004 to 2006 , member of the board of directors of the Institut du Patrimoine in Paris since 2005 , in 2011 she was awarded the honor of “Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic “.

She has published her work in ” Paragone “, ” Ricerche di storia dell’arte “, ” Bollettino d’arte ” as well as in several conference proceedings . Among the most significant texts should be mentioned : La pittura a Roma nella seconda metà dell’Ottocento, in La pittura in Italia: l’Ottocento, (Milano, Electa, 1990); Restauro made in Italy (Milano, Electa, 2006); Guernica di Piacsso (Milano, Electa, 2007); La pittura sacra in Italia nell’Ottocento: una proposta di classficazione, in Autori vari, La pittura di storia in Italia 1785-1870. Ricerche, quesiti, proposte, a cura di G. Capitelli e C. Mazzarelli (Milano, Silvana editoriale, 2008);Longhi e Brandi intorno al restauro, in “Atti dell’incontro di studio Longhi-Brandi convergenze divergenze”, edited by M.C. Bandera e G. Basile (Firenze, il prato, 2010); L’India vista dall’Europa: le copie di Christiana Herringham dei dipinti murali di Ajanta, in Autori vari Ajanta dipinta (Roma, Gangemi, 2013).