with passion to numismatics

Massimo Rossi,  director Astarte S.A.

He has been a professional numismatist since 1978. He was already owner of Numismatica in Mantua when he began working with Kunst und Münzen in Lugano with whom he set up public auctions and, until 1997 he was also co-director of Numismatica Aretusa S.A, once again in Lugano.

In 1989 he curated the Gonzaga, Mantua and Sabbioneta Mints: Coins in the Former Royal Collection and Milan’s Civic Numismatic Collections in Sabbioneta, Italy, and its catalogue.

In 1993 he published Un nuovo testone di Vespasiano Gonzaga per la zecca di Sabbioneta (A new Vespasiano Gonzaga Testone for the Sabbioneta mint) on the subject of an as yet unseen coin at the British Museum in London.

In 1995 he sat on the Executive Board for the exhibition held at Mantua’s Palazzo Te entitled The Gonzagas. Coins, Art, History and also wrote several of the essays in its catalogue.

He also contributed to the writing of T. Slepova’s La Collezione di Monete Mantovane dell’Hermitage (The Mantua Coin Collection at the Hermitage) in St. Petersburg and took part in the La monetazione dei Gonzaga (Monetising the Gonzagas) Study Conference, speaking on the subject Gonzaga Coins Belonging to Berlin’s Staatliche Museen.

For the Monete e medaglie di Mantova e dei Gonzaga dal XII al XIX secolo (Mantua and Gonzaga Coins and Medals from the 12th to the 19th Centuries) series he published volume VII, Le Monete dei Gonzaga. Addenda (Gonzaga Coins. An Addendum) and volume VIII Le Medaglie dei Gonzaga (Gonzaga Medals), completing the Gonzaga medal corpus.

In 2002 he set up the Museo Numismatico della Fondazione Banca Agricola Mantovana numismatic museum in Mantua and then acted as its curator until 2008.

He has been a member of Accademia Italiana di Studi Numismatici.

In 2006 he sat on the Executive Board of the At Andrea Mantegna’s Home. Art Culture in Mantua in the 15th Century exhibition. That same year, on the occasion of events held to mark the fifth centenary of the death of Andrea Mantegna, he worked on the exhibition held at Mantua’s Palazzo Ducale, writing an essay entitled La monetazione a Mantova all’epoca di Andrea Mantegna (Coinage in Mantua at the Time of Andrea Mantegna).

In October 2006, in conjunction with the Archaeology Superintendency of Mantua, Brescia and Cremona, he organised a study day on the subject of Coin and Medal Art in Mantua in Andrea Mantegna's Day.

In 2007 and 2008 he organised a public auction of medals from a prestigious museum.

Author of articles in specialist and non-specialist journals, he is a member of Associazione dei Numismatici Professionisti Svizzeri, and other national numismatic associations.

In 2017 he presented the coins of the Mantua Palazzo Ducale Exhibition entitled Building, Thinking, Living. Sabbioneta and Charleville, Gonzaga Ideal Cities.