) is a contemporary scholar of Italic archaeology and the culture of the Etruscans. He teaches at the University of Perugia

University of Perugia

University of Perugia is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale....

. Torelli was trained by the famed art historian Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli

Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli

Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli was an Italian archaeologist and art historian.-Biography:A Marxist, Bianchi Bandinelli was descended from ancient aristocracy in Siena. His early research focused on the Etruscan centers close to his family lands, Clusium and Suana...

.

He has held many posts during his professional life, beginning as an assistant at the center for ancient art history in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 (1960–62), followed by a stint as archaeological inspector of the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome (1964–69). He was appointed professor Greek

Art in Ancient Greece

The arts of ancient Greece have exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many countries all over the world, particularly in the areas of sculpture and architecture. In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely derived from Greek models...

 and Roman

Roman art

Roman art has the visual arts made in Ancient Rome, and in the territories of the Roman Empire. Major forms of Roman art are architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work...

 art history at the University of Cagliari

University of Cagliari

The University of Cagliari is a university located in Cagliari, Italy. It was founded in 1620 and is organized in 11 Faculties.-History:The Studium Generalis Kalaritanum was founded in 1606 along the lines of the old Spanish Universities of Salamanca, Valladolid and Lérida...

 in 1969, and served until 1973. He also has been instrumental in the excavations of the sanctuary at the site of Gravisca

Gravisca

Gravisca or Graviscae was the port of the Etruscan city of Tarquinii, situated 8 km east of the city center.A colonia of Roman citizenship was established at the site in 181 BC.-References:*...

.

He has been visiting professor at a number of institutions, including: University of Colorado at Boulder

University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

 (1974); University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 at Ann Arbor (1978); University of California, Irvine

University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...

 (1979); École Normale Supérieure de Rue d’Ulm

École Normale Supérieure

The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

 in Paris (1984); Université de Paris I - Sorbonne

University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne

Pantheon-Sorbonne University or Paris 1 is a university in Paris, France. With eight hundred years of excellence to build on, the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, a descendant of the Sorbonne and the Faculty of Law and Economics of Paris, is one of the largest universities in France today...

 (1985); Collège de France

Collège de France

The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...

 (1986); University of Alberta

University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 (1986); Nellie Vallace lecturer at Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 (1988); University of Bristol

University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...

 (1993). In 1982 Torelli was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...

 in Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

, and was Getty Scholar at the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities

Getty Research Institute

The Getty Research Institute , located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts". A program of the J...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 in 1990-91 http://getty.edu/research/scholarly_activities/annual_themes/1990-1991.html. He is a member of the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, and a member of the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi in Florence.

Selected works

• Elogia tarquiniensia (1975)
• Necropoli dell'Italia antica (1982)
• Typology & structure of Roman historical reliefs (1982)
• Storia degli estruschi (1984)
• Lavinio e Roma : riti iniziatici e matrimonio tra archeologia e storia (1984)
• La società etrusca : l'età arcaica, l'età classica (1987)
• with Pierre Gros
  Pierre Gros
  Pierre Gros is a contemporary scholar of ancient Roman architecture and the Latin language, particularly the texts of the writer Vitruvius....
  
  Storia dell'urbanistica : il mondo romano (1988)
• La daunia nell'età della romanizzazione, Edipuglia (1990)
• Atlante dei siti archeologici della Toscana (1992)
• Studies in the Romanization of Italy (1995)
• Il rango, il rito e l'immagine : alle origini della rappresentazione storica romana (1997)
• Tota Italia : essays in the cultural formation of Roman Italy (1999)
• The Etruscans (2001)