Born and raised in Naples, I am a professional archaeologist involved in scientific projects and excavations in Pompeii since 1997. My experience includes serving as Scientific Director for restoration initiatives connected to the Great Pompeii Project.
Currently, I am Vice-President of the International Research Institute for Archaeology and Ethnology (IRIAE), a member of the Venus Pompeiana Project, Scientific Director of the Lapis Museum in Naples, and Director of the Italian archaeological expedition in the historic garden of the Italian Embassy in Tokyo. Although my career has often taken me abroad, I have always felt drawn back to my roots.
Today, I live in the heart of Naples, where I passionately combine academic research with guiding. Since 2011, I have been leading tours with a clear mission: to use my background and enthusiasm to offer guests unforgettable, in-depth experiences of the Bay of Naples’ extraordinary cultural heritage.
Born in Naples in 1974, I hold degrees in Conservation of Cultural Heritage from the University Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples and in Classical Archaeology from the University of Basilicata.
A specialist in Roman wall-painting, I was adjunct professor of Classical Archaeology at the University Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples (2009–2010), visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo (2004–2009), German Archaeological Institute fellow (2011), and Fritz Thyssen Stiftung postdoctoral fellow (Förderung italienischer Nachwuchswissenschaftler an deutschen Institutionen in Italien, 2013). From 2004 to 2009 I served as Technical Director (SOA OS25, OS2) of the restoration company Euris srl and from 2017 to 2020 of Omnia Restauri srl.
I have been a member or consultant in numerous international scientific projects and excavations since 1997, most recently serving as scientific director of excavation and restoration projects linked to the Major Project Pompeii and as field director of the excavation of the ancient beach of Herculaneum. I was co-director of the archaeological excavation of the Tobiotsuka Kofun (mound tomb) in Japan, the core activity of the BE-ARCHAEO project “Archaeology and Science from the Excavation to the Restoration of the Archaeological Find” (EU H2020 MSCA RISE 2018), an international project funded by the EU and the Japan Foundation involving Okayama University, the University of Turin, IRIAE, and the University of Lisbon.
I am currently field director of the Venus Pompeiana Project (VPP), a collaboration between the University of Missouri–Columbia and Mount Allison University, under the auspices of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, which has resumed study of the Sanctuary of Venus at Pompeii. I am Scientific Director and consultant of the Lapis Museum in Naples and Vice-President of the International Research Institute for Archaeology and Ethnology (IRIAE).
I am a member of the archaeological expedition in Japan, directed by IRIAE and supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation since 2017, and since 2022 I have been leading the Italian archaeological expeditions in Tokyo: “Study, Reconstruction and Conservation of the Historical Garden of the Italian Embassy in Tokyo” and the “Edo Castle Mission”. I founded the project Archeologia a Napoli (Archaeology in Naples), created to support independent research in archaeology and cultural heritage, and have published numerous books and scientific papers, also serving as co-editor of the series “Enolibro, pagine da bere” published by Valtrend.
Further publications and details are available on my Academia.edu and ResearchGate profiles.
https://iriae.academia.edu/IvanVarriale
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivan-Varriale
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Archeologist
Licenced tour guide
Monographs
2011
2010
Scientific articles
2022
•Marcello Mogetta, Ilaria Battiloro, Ivan Varriale, Daniel P. Diffendale, Giordano Iacomelli, Mattia D’Acri, Chiara Corbino, Chiara Comegna, Giacomo Pardini (2022): "Archaeological Research at the Sanctuary of Venus in Pompeii: Interim Report of the 2018-2019 Seasons of the Venus Pompeiana Project
•“Gli scavi sull’Antica spiaggia nel 2021 e il ritrovamento dell’ultimo fuggiasco"e "L’ultimo fuggiasco di Ercolano” in F. Sirano et Alii, L’antica spiaggia di Ercolano. Nuovi dati dal cantiere di recupero dell’areadell’anticolitorale,in CronErc 52/2022, pp. 355-382.
2018
•"New Investigations at the Sanctuary of Venus in Pompeii: Interim Report on the 2017 Season of the Venus Pompeiana Project" in Fasti Online
2016
•“Otium and Negotium: The Breakdown of a Boundary in the Imperial Villas. The case study of Pausilypon”, in (A. Weissenrieder ed.) Borders: terms, ideologies, performances.Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2016, pp. 283-301.
2015
•“Pausilypon tra otium e potere imperiale”, in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 121, 2015, 227-268.
2014
•“Le decorazioni pittoriche dai recenti scavi del Criptoportico di Alife (CE)”, in N. Zimmermann, (a cura di) Malerei zwischen Lokalstil und Zeitstil, XI. Internationales Kolloquium der AIPMA 13.-17. September 2010 in Ephesos- Selçuk / Türkei, Wien 2014, 525-530.
2012
•“Art and architecture in the House of Menander in Pompeii”, in David L. Balch and Annette Weissenrieder (a cura di), Contested Spaces. Houses and Temples in Roman Antiquity and the New Testamen, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2012, pp. 131-152.
2010
•“La rappresentazione del mito come forma di comunicazione. Il caso di Atteone e Diana”, in Annali dell’Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa, Napoli 2010, pp. 556-558.
•“Cicli decorativi di età tardo-ellenistica dal Tempio di Venere a Pompei”, in I. Bragantini (a cura di), Atti del X Congresso Internazionale dell’AIPMA (Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique), Napoli 17-21 settembre 2007, Napoli 2010, pp. 375-387.
2009
•“Nuove osservazioni sulla Casa VII 16, Insula Occidentalis 17 a Pompei”, in A. Coralini (a cura di), Vesuviana. Archeologie a confronto. Convegno internazionale. Bologna 14-16 gennaio 2008, Bologna 2009, pp. 463-475.
2008
•“Porti e approdi. Dall’arcaismo all’impero”, in V.P. Li Vigni Tusa, Le vie del Mare. Catalogo della Mostra itinerante nel Mediterraneo, Palermo 2008, pp. 85-91. (con U. Pappalardo)
• “Rotte e merci. Dall’arcaismo all’impero”, in V.P. Li Vigni Tusa, Le vie del Mare. Catalogo della Mostra itinerante nel Mediterraneo, Palermo 2008, pp. 107-113. (con U. Pappalardo)
•“Migrazioni. Dall’arcaismo all’impero”, in V.P. Li Vigni Tusa, Le vie del Mare. Catalogo della Mostra itinerante nel Mediterraneo, Palermo 2008, pp. 127-130. (con U. Pappalardo)
•“Legislazione. Dall’arcaismo all’impero”, in V.P. Li Vigni Tusa, Le vie del Mare. Catalogo della Mostra itinerante nel Mediterraneo, Palermo 2008, pp. 143-145. (con U. Pappalardo)
2007
•“La Villa Imperiale di Pausilypon”, in R. Ciardiello (a cura di) La villa romana, Napoli 2007, pp. 147- 168.
•“Cicli iconografici nella Casa del Menandro a Pompei”, in Circolazione dei temi e sistemi decorativi nella pittura murale antica (Atti del IX Congresso de la “Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique” –celebrato dal 21 al 24 Settembre 2004 in Zaragoza e Calatayud), Zaragoza 2007, pp. 336-339.
2006
•“The Suburban Baths of Herculaneum”, in Cura Aquarum in Ephesus (Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, Ephesus/Selçuk, Turkey, October 2-10,2004), Babesch Supplementa, 12, 2006, pp. 433- 440. (con U. Pappalardo)
•“VI 17 Insula Occidentalis, 32-36”, in Umberto Pappalardo e Masanori Aoyagi (a cura di), POMPEI (Regiones VI – VII). Insula Occidentalis. Vol. I, Napoli 2006, pp. 33-42.
•“VII 16 Insula Occidentalis 17. Casa di Maius Castricius”, in Umberto Pappalardo e Masanori Aoyagi (a cura di), POMPEI (Regiones VI – VII). Insula Occidentalis. Vol. I, Napoli 2006, pp. 419-504.
•“VII 16 Insula Occidentalis 10. Scavo del Principe di Montenegro”, in Umberto Pappalardo e Masanori Aoyagi (a cura di), POMPEI (Regiones VI – VII). Insula Occidentalis. Vol. I, Napoli 2006, pp. 543-552.
2005
•“Spazio e immagini: la funzione degli affreschi nella casa pompeiana”, in Pompei (monografia della rivista greca di archeologia CORPUS di ottobre 2005), 2005, pp. 40- 44.
•“Puteoli” in Guida geoarcheologica della costa campana ad uso dei naviganti, a cura di Umberto Pappalardo e Rosaria Ciardiello, Napoli 2005, pp. 58-70.
•“Bradisismo flegreo” in Guida geoarcheologica della costa campana ad uso dei naviganti, a cura di Umberto Pappalardo e Rosaria Ciardiello, Napoli 2005, pp. 78-83.
•“ Posillipo-Nisida” in Guida geoarcheologica della costa campana ad uso dei naviganti, a cura di Umberto Pappalardo e Rosaria Ciardiello, Napoli 2005, 86-89.
•“La rappresentazione del mito come forma di comunicazione. Il caso di Atteone e Diana” in ArtePresente 14, 2005, pp. 51- 55.
2004
•“ Spazio funzione e decorazione nella Casa del Menandro a Pompei” in ArtePresente, 10-13, 2004, pp. 50- 54.
•"Costa flegrea e attività bradisismica dall'antichità ad oggi", in L. De Maria e R. Turchetti (a cura di), Rotte e porti del Mediterraneo dopo la caduta dell'Impero romano d'occidente: continuità e innovazioni tecnologiche e funzionali, Atti del IV seminario ANSER. (Genova 18-19 Giugno 2004), Soveria Mannelli 2004, pp. 291- 310.
In Print
•“Gli intonaci affrescati e gli stucchi”, in F. Marazzi (a cura di), Il Criptoportico di Alife, Piedimonte Matese (c.s.)
Articles in magazines
2008
“La Villa Imperiale di Pausilypon”, in Il Partenopeo (Periodico del Comitato per la Qualità del Vivere), n.1- Giugno –Agosto 2008, pp. 6-7.
2007
“Il Bradisismo dei Campi Flegrei” in Il Partenopeo (Periodico del Comitato per la Qualità del Vivere), n.0- Novembre –Dicembre 2007, pp. 6-7.
Other publications
2010
R. Ciardiello, I. Varriale, Cibus, I sapori dell’antica Roma, Napoli (Valtrend) 2010
Multimedia
2009
Scientific consulence to realize a DVD and a CG film (Computer Graphics Film) with 3D recostration of the House of Golden Bracelet for the Japanese company Toppan Printing co.ltd. Tokyo.
