Silvia Massa

Born in Genoa (1989), I am a PhD candidate in Analysis and Management of Cultural Heritage at IMT Institute for Advanced Studies in Lucca.

I got my master degree (2013) in Art History from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, with a dissertation on the engraver Raffaello Guidi (XVI-XVII c.), of whom I wrote the catalogue raisonné. I was an intern at Museo di Palazzo Bianco in Genoa, Società Dante Alighieri in Berlin and National Maritime Museum in London.

I published several articles on "Grafica d’Arte", Italian magazine focused on graphic art, and since September 2017 I am in charge of communication, news and social media for the cultural association Ars Graphica.

My PhD thesis explores the foundation and development of public collections of prints and drawings ("gabinetti disegni e stampe") in Italy between XIX and XX c. The research is based on some case studies (National museums) which will be compared to foreign ones (London, Berlin, Paris) to trace models and similarities in the way prints and drawings were studied, collected, preserved and exhibited. In 2017 I was a visiting student at the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica in Rome and research trainee at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.

Outside IMT I work as a freelance tour guide. I am interested in cultural tourism and especially the relationship between temporary exhibitions and permanent museum collections and the best strategies to engage different audiences with the arts.

Travel addicted. I love cooking, skiing and driving my Vespa.