My name is Roberto Deriu. After having received a Master of Art at the Art Institute for Ceramics in Faenza in 1991, I graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna, degree thesis in History of Handicraft Production and the Culture of Materials. Since then, I have been carrying out superficial reconnaissance and archaeological excavations in Italy, focussing on the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Age.
In 2003 I founded Gesti Ritrovati and I started dealing with experimental archaeology and organising experimental exhibitions in museums and archaeological parks, in co-operation with cultural associations and schools. Since 2006 I have been holding training courses in experimental archaeology at different levels, in particular in archaeological and natural parks. My aim is to train local operators, to raise their awareness and to optimise the maintenance and future use of the experimental places I built. Since 2007, the Department of History and Methods for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage (University of Bologna) has granted its scientific patronage to the activities of Gesti Ritrovati. In 2009 I achieved a Specialisation Degree in Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Milan. My research thesis (supervisor Prof. R.C. De Marinis; advisor Prof.ssa M. T. Grassi) was titled “Firing pottery kilns in the Iron Age: experimental tests of archaeological data”.