Carlo Fea (Pigna (IM) — in Piemonte at the time, 2 February, 1753 - Rome, 18 March, 1836) was an Italian archaeologist.

Fea studied law in Rome, receiving the degree of doctor of laws from the university of La Sapienza, but archaeology gradually absorbed his attention, and with the view of obtaining better opportunities for his researches in 1798 he took orders. For political reasons he was obliged to take refuge in Florence; on his return in 1799 he was imprisoned as a Jacobin by the Neapolitans, who at that time were occupying Rome, but was shortly afterwards freed and appointed Commissario delle Antichità and librarian to Prince Chigi .

Fea helped frame legislation to control the trade in, and excavation of, the antiquities of Rome, and undertook archaeological work on the Pantheon and the Forum there.

Fea revised and annotated an Italian translation of J. J. Winckelmann 's Geschichte der Kunst, and also annotated some of the works of G. L. Bianconi . Among his original writings he is best known for: Miscellanea filologica, critica, e antiquaria; and Descrizione di Roma.

References

• Riley, R.T., 2000, The Pope's Archaeologist: The Life and Times of Carlo Fea, Quasar. ISBN 8871401778