Ilario Luperini

Ilario Luperini was born on 7 April 1944 in Pietrasanta, the marble-working town in the province of Lucca often called the little Athens of Tuscan art. He completed a classical secondary education and then graduated in letters from the University of Pisa. From the beginning of his studies and working life he showed a strong interest in the teaching of art and in bringing art history to a wider public.

In 1976 Luperini was among the founders of the education section of the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo in Pisa, together with Antonino Caleca and Lucia Tongiorgi. For many years he worked as an education consultant to the heritage superintendencies of Tuscany, helping to develop new ways of teaching in museums and of bringing young people to the region's artistic heritage.

From 1979 he was head of art schools, and in 1983 he became head of the Istituto Statale d'Arte in Pisa, which later became the Liceo Artistico Russoli. He led it until 2006, a long period of renewal and experiment in which the school became known for its attention to contemporary languages, design, multimedia and research in teaching. He described those years in his book L'arte e la scuola che non c'e. Idee, progetti, vicende di una scuola sperimentale, published by ETS in 2012.

As an art historian and critic he wrote dozens of essays, books and exhibition catalogues on artists of the past and on contemporary work, and contributed to specialist journals and newspapers. He curated major exhibitions of Igor Mitoraj and Arnaldo Pomodoro promoted by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana. In 1990 he was made an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

In public life he was a member of Pisa city council until 1994 and then a member of the municipal executive of Cascina until 1996. From 1995 to 2008 he was president of the Teatro di Pisa and became the first president of the Fondazione Teatro di Pisa. He was active in heritage associations including AMUR, which works to protect the walls of Pisa, chaired the jury of the annual Marco Verdigi painting prize, and in his last weeks founded the Gruppo Pisano dell'Arte with the architect Marco Sereni.

Luperini was born in Pietrasanta but lived most of his life in Pisa. He was married to Maria Giulia Burresi, former director of the Pisa superintendency for architectural and artistic heritage, whom La Nazione described as the love of his life. They had two daughters, Marina and Linda.

Ilario Luperini died suddenly at the age of 82. His death was reported on 30 October 2026 by Il Tirreno, PisaToday and QuiNewsPisa, and the following day by La Nazione. No cause of death was made public. His body lay in the mortuary rooms of the Pubblica Assistenza in Pisa until 3pm on Monday 2 November, before being taken to the suburban cemetery of Pisa for cremation. He was survived by his wife and his two daughters.

Luperini is remembered in Pisa as a teacher and administrator who shaped generations of art students and as a pioneer of museum education in Tuscany. Bruno Pollacci, director of the Accademia d'Arte di Pisa, recalled his role in founding the San Matteo education section. Il Tirreno wrote that with his death Pisa lost a protagonist of its cultural life, a man who combined the rigour of a scholar, the sensitivity of a teacher and civic commitment to his community.