Pretiosa Vitrea, whose title is inspired by the Latin definition of glass given by Gaius Petronius in the Satyricon written in the late first century AD, emphasises the heritage of glass manufacturing through the showcase of artifacts nowadays preserved in the state museums of Tuscany and in important private collections within the region. The quality of these 100 findings is comparable in excellence to the artifacts that can be found in the most renowned international museums. The book brings together such relevant archaeological findings of Roman glass manufacturing in Tuscany, as the glass cameo from Torrita di Siena or the chrysography of Arezzo. Alongside these exclusive glass products, a wide variety of findings will be showcased to illustrate the evolution of mass-production techniques, from the use of moulds to the discovery of the glass-blowing technique in the middle of the first century BC, which soon demonstrated clear advantages compared to the traditional ceramic production in terms of lower cost and preserving unchanged the taste of contained food and liquids. Text in English and Italian. AUTHORS: Fabrizio Paolucci is the curator of the classical art collection at the Uffizi Gallery. His field of research ranges from fine glass produced in late antiquity to historical collections of antiquities and topics linked to marble colouring in the Roman world. He has curated several exhibitions of ancient glass and Roman portraiture and in addition to his scientific research he has written several works on archaeological subjects for the general public. Giandomenico De Tommaso is Adjunct Professor of Greek and Roman Archaeology and History at the University of Florence and assistant professor in the SAGAS department at the same university, for which he is also research project scientific supervisor, overseeing the investigation of the Roman settlement at Poggio del Molino (Populonia, Livorno) and the administration of the Enrico Paribeni Archive in Florence University's Biblioteca Umanistica, among others. He has run or otherwise taken part in several excavations in Italy and Crete and has helped design and install various exhibitions and museums (Piombino, Genoa, Florence, etc.). Giandomenico De Tommaso's interests range from the many aspects of glassmaking to the problems associated with Greek and Roman pottery and the topography of Athens. 124 colour images
