Gherardo Gnoli


Gherardo Gnoli was a historian of Italian religions and Iran expert.

Biography

Gherardo Gnoli has been since 1996 the president of the Italian Institute for Africa and the East. He was also the head of the Public Counsel Institute and later the Italian Institute for the Middle and the Far East, which had been founded in 1933 by Giovanni Gentile and Giuseppe Tucci. He headed the Italy-Africa Institute, which had been founded in 1906 under the name of "Italian Colonial Institute" by Italian explorers, academics and diplomats.
He was a professor of Iranian philosophy at the University of Naples "L'Orientale". In addition he was the president of the same academy from 1979 to 1995. Until his death in 1995, Gherardo Gnoli was also the president of the Italian Society for the History of Religions.
His brother, Raniero Gnoli was Sanskrit and a dentist. Gherardo Gnoli was an international enthusiast to understand Iran. He was also a partner Lincei Academy in France, Russia and Hungary and an honorary member of Paris’s Asian Society, Ancient India and Iran Trust of Cambridge and Institute de France.
His name is recorded as number 318 on the list of members of the Masonic lodge P2. He always acted as though he was ignorant about the issues. He was among those without an identification card, an address or any other element which would identify him. As is clear from his parliamentary actions, beginning in September 1981, his positions, even relating to administrative issues, were ultimately archived.

Selected works