ItaMassimo Montanari, born 1949, studied Medieval History
with Vito Fumagalli at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of
Bologna University. In 1975 he became “assistent” in Medieval
History and in 1977 obtained the teaching charge of Medieval
Agrarian History. In 1983 was promoted “associated professor”. In
1990 became full professor of Medieval History. He teached four
years (1990-1994) at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy in
Catania University. In the years 1994-2000 he teached at the
Faculty of “Conservazione dei Beni Culturali” in Bologna
University; in 2000 he rejoined the Faculty of Letters
and Philosophy.
From 2000 to 2005 he has been the Director of the Department of
Paleography and Medieval Studies (Paleografia e Medievistica). Now is working in the Department of History and Cultures.
He held lectures in many european countries, in Japan, the
United States, Canada, Latin America. In 1992 he has been guest
professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in
Parigi. In 1993 he held a course of lectures at the UCLA
(University of California at Los Angeles). In 2001 he was invited
for a cycle of seminars in four different University in Japan. In
2007 he was invited to the “international chair” at the ULB
(Université Libre de Bruxelles). In 2008 he teached lectures in six
canadian universities.
He is the director of a collection (Biblioteca di Storia Agraria
Medievale) published by the Cooperativa Libraria Universitaria
Editrice in Bologna. He is a consultant and collaborator of Laterza
publishers.
He has been among the founders of the international review “Food
& History”, published by the Institut Européen d'Histoire et
des Cultures de l'Alimentation (Tours), of which he was the
director up to 2008. He is a member of the scientific committee of
the IEHCA.
He is also a member of the scientific committee of the Centro
Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, Spoleto.
In 1997 he founded, together with collegues of different Italian
universities, the “Centro di studi per la storia delle campagne e
del lavoro contadino”, settled in Montalcino (Siena); he is the
President of the same Center.
In 2001-2002 he launched in the Faculty of Letters and
Philosophy in Bologna Universityu the Master Storia e cultura
dell'alimentazione, now ruled by the Department of Storia Culture Civiltà.
For about twenty years he has been directing local research
groups (so called ex 60%) and national ones (ex 40%), on topics
regarding the rural history and the food history.
In 2002 Azeglio Ciampi, the President of Italy Republic, assigned him the title of honoured Ufficiale (Officer) for scientific merits.
In 2012 he won the Rabelais Prized, conferred by the Institut de France for special distinction in the study, diffusion and promotion of food culture.
Since 2013 he is a member of the Académie Royale de Belgique (Classe des Lettre set Sciences morales et politiques).
Since 2017 he is an associated of the Sciences Academy of the Institut of Bologna (Classe of moral sciences, philosophical, anthropological and pedagogical section).
