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Enzo Ferroni (1921-2007): the History of an Eclectic Chemist 

 

LUIGI DEI 

Dipartimento di Chimica “Ugo Schiff”, Università degli Studi di Firenze, via della Lastruccia, 13, 

50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy 

Email: luigi.dei@unifi.it, URL: https://www.unifi.it/p-doc2-0-0-A-3f2a3d2b34282a.html 

 

 

Received: Feb 17, 2023 Revised: May 2, 2023 Just Accepted Online: May 3, 2023 Published: Xxx 

This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the 

copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this 

version and the Version of Record. 

Please cite this article as: 

L. Dei, (2023) Enzo Ferroni (1921-2007): the History of an Eclectic Chemist. Substantia. Just Accepted. DOI: 

10.36253/Substantia-2055 

 

 

Abstract. Enzo Ferroni (Florence, 25 March 1921 – 9 April 2007) was an Italian chemist, full professor in 

physical chemistry at the University of Florence, where he served as Rector from 1976 to 1979, a renowned 

international scientist who initiated a new branch of chemistry, that applied to cultural heritage 

conservation. The history of his scientific and academic life offers a particular interest in a half-century 

cross-section of the history of chemistry in Italy and the entire world. In particular, Ferroni developed the 

colloids, surface, and interface chemistry in Italy immediately after the Second World War in a country 

where it was almost non-existent, sensing the extraordinary potential of this branch of chemistry in the 

fields of basic and applied research. This paper aims to reconstruct the history of this eclectic chemist 

starting from his pioneering studies in Italy on colloids, surfaces, and interfaces that, after the Second World 

War, came to be widely popular within the international scientific literature following three milestones 

represented by the studies of the Nobel laureates in chemistry, Richard A. Zsigmondy (1925), Theodor 

Svedberg (1926), and Irving Langmuir (1932).  Enzo Ferroni’s far-sighted and visionary ideas concerning the 

investigation of these systems and others with biological implications by the nascent resonance 

spectroscopies and surface diffraction techniques were recognised and underlined as the revolutionary 

approach by ever more sophisticated instrumentations that were to characterise chemistry research to this 

day. The consecration of the extraordinary potential and peculiarities of colloids, surfaces, and interfaces 

would come to fruition in 1991 with the Nobel laureate in physics Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who finally 

discovered that “the methods developed to study ordinary phenomena in simple systems can be 

generalised to more complex states of matter, especially liquid crystals, and polymers” (official motivation 

of the Prize), recognising soft matter as a peculiar form of matter in the condensed phase. These pioneering 

frontiers in the newly established soft matter field can be considered Ferroni’s last message in the bottle 

to young researchers facing the twenty-first century. The eclecticism of this chemist emerged from two 

other compelling aspects that are illustrated in this article: the chemistry for cultural heritage that Ferroni 

mailto:luigi.dei@unifi.it
https://www.unifi.it/p-doc2-0-0-A-3f2a3d2b34282a.html


 

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conceived, pushed by the dramatic damages suffered by the works of art after the Florence flood in 1966, 

and his strong vision about the equal dignity of basic and applied research, that led him to establish fruitful 

relationships with industries aimed to enhance technological fallouts, as the research by the Nobel 

laureates in chemistry (1963) Giulio Natta and Karl Ziegler had clearly shown.  

Keywords: history of 20th-century chemistry, colloids, surfaces and interfaces, chemistry for cultural 

heritage conservation, fundamental and applied research, soft matter. 

 

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

From the vantage point of the second fifth of the 21st century we have the possibility to look at the 

history of science of the second half of the 20th century with the eyes of the science historian, considering 

that all the discoveries made after the end of the Second World War until the beginning of the new century 

can be considered as sufficiently sedimented to re-evaluate them in a historical perspective.1  The advance 

of science and technology in every field during such period was tremendous, and the people devoted to its 

progress have exponentially increased. Every discipline underwent an extraordinary multiplication of 

specialisations; simultaneously, science and technology had the need to be increasingly more multi- and 

inter-disciplinary. Moreover, science and technology started to create bridges towards human and social 

sciences in a sort of total globalisation of knowledge. In this frame, many scientists in every part of the 

world substantially increased their cooperation and research groups in different countries developed the 

various topics of each discipline, creating centres of excellence able to attract young scholars interested in 

the progress of science and technology. In this context, Italy was a noteworthy case since it emerged from 

twenty years of darkness characterised by the totalitarian fascist regime with all the consequences for the 

freedom of research and teaching. 

Until the end of the Second World War the biggest advances in science were mainly prerogative of the 

United States of America, Germany, and United Kingdom: as an example, Italy had earned only two Nobel 

prizes in physics (Enrico Fermi, 1938; Guglielmo Marconi, 1919) and one in medicine or physiology (Camillo 

Golgi, 1906), whereas three great writers received the Nobel Prize in literature (Giosuè Carducci, 1906; 

Grazia Deledda, 1926; Luigi Pirandello, 1934).2 Chemistry had lived through a less prosperous period with 

respect to the glorious 19th century, where the giants Amedeo Avogadro3 (Turin, 1776-1856), Stanislao 

Cannizzaro4 (Palermo, 1826 – Rome, 1910), and Raffaele Piria5 (Scilla, 1814 – Turin 1865) had dominated 

the world scenario.6 Indeed, some important chemists worked in Italy in the first half of the 20th century: 

among them we can include Giacomo Ciamician7 (Trieste, 1857 – Bologna, 1922), Nicola Parravano8 

(Fontana Liri, 1883 – Fiuggi, 1938), Emanuele Paternò9 (Palermo, 1847 – 1935), Raffaello Nasini10 (Siena, 

1854 – Rome, 1931), and Mario Betti (1875 – 1942),11 but nobody succeeded in gaining the same great 

renown as the Italian school of physics: the first Nobel Prize in chemistry – still the only one – will arrive in 

1963 with Giulio Natta (Porto Maurizio, 1903 – Bergamo, 1979).2 Due to the proximity of the second half of 

the 20th century with our times, apart from the Nobel laureate Giulio Natta,12 the literature is quite scarce 

about chemists who have lived and worked in this period: as examples, we recognize interesting papers on 

Giovanni Battista Bonino (Genoa, 1899 – 1985)13, Massimo Simonetta (Pella, 1920 – Milan, 1986),14 Adolfo 

Quilico (Milan, 1902 – 1982),8 Giovanni Canneri (Montelupo Fiorentino, 1897 – Florence, 1964),7,8 Lamberto 

Malatesta (Milan, 1912 – 2007),15 Piero Pino (Trieste, 1921 – Milan, 1989),16 Eolo Scrocco (Tivoli, 1916 – 

Rome, 2012).17 



 

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Since the present paper aims to report and discuss the work of the academic chemist Enzo Ferroni 

(Florence, 1921 – 2007), it seemed worthwhile to frame the scenario where he carried out most of his 

scientific activity, that is, the University of Florence.  After the end of the Second World War, chemistry in 

Italy presented six main branches: analytical, industrial, inorganic, organic, pharmaceutical, and physical; 

inside each of these broad sub-disciplines, there were some specialisations within which, during the 

following decades, some important centres of excellence developed. At the University of Florence, 

inorganic chemistry took the path of coordination chemistry thanks to work initiated by Luigi Sacconi (Santa 

Croce sull’Arno, 1911 – Florence, 1992).18 As far as organic chemistry is concerned, the path set by Angelo 

Angeli (Tarcento, 1864 – Florence, 1931)8,19 and Adolfo Quilico (Milan, 1902 – 1982)8,19 who moved to the 

Politecnico di Milan in 1943, was followed by Giovanni Speroni (Florence, 1910 – 1984).8,19 Analytical 

chemistry was led by the already mentioned Giovanni Canneri. In contrast, pharmaceutical chemistry had 

two key scientists, Sergio Berlingozzi (Montevarchi, 1890 – Fiesole, 1957) and Mario Torquato Passerini 

(Casellina e Torri, now Scandicci, 1891 – Florence, 1962).8,19 Industrial chemistry started to develop precisely 

in the period subject of the present study thanks to the work of Franco Piacenti (Florence, 1927 – 2002).20 

The chair of physical chemistry, the discipline that Enzo Ferroni selected for his chemistry master’s degree 

thesis, was held by Giorgio Piccardi (Florence, 1895 – Riccione, 1972), a significant Italian scientist, though 

for some aspects quite controversial.21 Enzo Ferroni defended his chemistry master’s thesis (from now on, 

it will be used for this title the verb to graduate) in 1945 magnum cum laude, under the supervision of 

Giorgio Piccardi. The title of his work was “Recent advances and opinions on chemical kinetics” .23 Starting 

from this first research, Enzo Ferroni began a long academic career that allowed him to open many new 

research fields in physical chemistry that the time will reveal being characterised by the strong impact on 

the history of chemistry. 

This paper aims to reconstruct the milestones of the academic life of this scientist, individuating the 

five topics which demonstrate the remarkable visionary capacity of this man to open new horizons in his 

field of research, creating research paths that nowadays appear normal and foregone but that at the time 

of Ferroni’s work were completely uncharted and for which it was impossible to foresee the success they 

would have. By initially looking at his pioneering studies on colloids, surfaces, and interfaces, the present 

study is devoted to following how Ferroni sensed the importance of the nascent resonance spectroscopies 

and surface diffraction techniques, the fruitful relationship between chemistry and cultural heritage 

conservation, the new frontiers in soft matter, and the strategic role played by applied chemistry, 

technology, and industry. Finally, the study aims to show that some of the most current topics in chemistry, 

such as supramolecular chemistry, self-assembly, nanoscopic world, nanomaterial chemistry, scientific 

diagnostics in cultural heritage conservation, and soft matter, were already outlined in the studies and 

research Enzo Ferroni designed and carried out. 

2. THE BEGINNING: COLLOIDS, SURFACES, AND INTERFACES 

Ferroni started his research activity at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century: indeed, his 

first two articles23, 24 clearly showed the direction he wanted to pursue, i.e., physical chemistry of colloids, 

surfaces, and interfaces. One of these systems' most peculiar physical properties is surface tension, which 

became the first topic on which Ferroni focused his attention and desire to deepen his knowledge. Ferroni 

intuitively knew that the works by three Nobel laureates in the chemistry of the last decades, namely, 

Richard A. Zsigmondy (1925), Theodor Svedberg (1926), and Irving Langmuir (1932)2 could be fundamental 

milestones and the basis for a new branch of physical chemistry in Italy. In particular, he read with great 

curiosity and interest Langmuir’s papers,25-53 from which the crucial and peculiar role of the solid-liquid, 

solid-gas, solid-vacuum, and liquid-gas interfaces emerged, indicating that surface chemistry was 

fundamental in determining the physicochemical mechanisms of a vast multitude of phenomena. 



 

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At the beginning of his research career, Ferroni was attracted by the liquid-gas interface. His attention 

was focused on measuring the surface tension of many liquid systems in static or dynamic conditions.54-58 

These first studies were also the result of the interaction with the group of Raymond Defay (Anderlecht, 

1897 – Brussels, 1987)59 and Ilya Prigogine (Moscow, 1917 – Brussels, 2003)60 at the Université Libre de 

Bruxelles with whom Ferroni had collaborations, even spending time at their laboratories in Brussels. 

Indeed, during these years, Ferroni’s scientific activity converged with the studies of these two great 

scientists, as proved by the subject of some of their publications61-66 focused on surface tensions of many 

different liquid systems. Moreover, the proof of these relationships is given by correspondence dated some 

years later, also denoting a friendship, from which we report, in Figures 1 and 2, two letters (from Raymond 

Defay to Ferroni and from Ferroni to Maria Prokopowicz Prigogine, the second wife of Ilya Prigogine) coming 

from Ferroni’s Archive.67,68 The research on the liquid-gas (air) interface was immediately extended to the 

bulk of the liquid that contained surfactants to investigate critical micellar concentration,69,70 

polymerisation,71,72 electrophoresis,73 aggregation phenomena,74,75 and equilibrium constants and complex 

formation.76,77 Following the path traced by Langmuir, Ferroni continued his pioneering work for building a 

school of colloids, interfaces, and surfaces in Italy, extending his studies to monomolecular films at the 

liquid-gas interfaces but also starting to explore solid-gas and solid-solid interfaces. His attention was 

concentrated on polymorphisms at the interface,78-81 mono- and multilayers of organic substances,82,83 

adsorption onto solid surfaces,84 solid → gas reactions,85 and epitaxy.86,87  

 

Figure 1. Letter by Raymond Defay, Université Libre de Bruxelles, to Enzo Ferroni dated 8 November 1965. 

“My dear Colleague, I received your letter dated 25 October, and I am surely interested in your experiments on phase transitions in 

adsorption films. Unfortunately, I have no experience dealing with high molecular weight polymers in solution. Therefore, I am not 

certain I will be able to elucidate your doubts, but I am happy to try and ponder on it if you state exactly the precise question. I will 

be quite occupied with many commitments until the end of January. After this date, I hope to have enough time for a deep and 

serious reflection. Please accept, my dear Colleague, my best regards, yours sincerely, Raymond Defay”. (Translation by the author). 

 



 

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Ferroni’s intense work resulted in a remarkable scientific impact in the physical chemistry of condensed 

phases following the research lines of two great schools, that of Irving Langmuir at General Electric 

Company Laboratories, Schenectady, USA, and of Raymond Defay and Ilya Prigogine at the Université Libre 

de Bruxelles, and allowed him to gain the chair – full professor in physical chemistry – at the University of 

Cagliari in 1961 presenting 85 scientific publications,88 including three articles on the Journal of Physical 

Chemistry,76 the Journal of the American Chemical Society,84 and Nature. 79 In 1965, he succeeded in gaining 

the same chair at the University of Florence, Faculty of Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences, where 

he remained until his retirement in 1996, becoming Emeritus the subsequent year. During the years spent 

at the University of Florence, he was Director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry (1965 – 1968), Dean of 

the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences (1968 – 1971), Rector (1976 – 1979), and Head 

of the Chemistry Department (1983 – 1985).89  From 1961 until the end of 1965, when he returned to the 

University of Florence, he continued his activity in Cagliari90-99 cultivating his pupils Enzo Tiezzi (Siena, 1938 

– 2010) and Gianfranco Rovida (Rome, 1939), who followed him at the University of Cagliari after getting 

their  chemistry master’s degree at the University of Florence in 1963 under the supervision of the young 

colleague Giulio G. G. T. Guarini (Forlì, 1932 – Florence, 2015). Another pupil of Ferroni’s, older than Rovida 

and Tiezzi, was Gabriella Gabrielli (Cortona, 1930 – Florence, 2022), who had already published many 

papers with Ferroni.55-57, 74-76, 79-81, To the same team, even though not his pupils, belonged Silvano Bordi, 

almost a peer of Ferroni’s (Florence, 1922 – 1995) and Rolando Guidelli (Florence, 1938) who, taking 

inspiration from the school of large interface systems founded by Ferroni, would go on to develop the 

physical chemistry of surfaces and interfaces in electrochemistry.89 

 

 



 

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Figure 2. Draft of a letter by Enzo Ferroni to Maria Prokopowicz Prigogine, the second wife of Ilya Prigogine. 

“Dear Madame, I wrote you just one year ago that I was improving (fine-tuning) some research on phase transitions in adsorption 

films, carried out following some remarks about the “molecular polymorphism” that grabbed your attention. During this time, I have 

obtained several experimental results and I am going to put them in a good correlation frame to draw some concluding 

considerations able to explain this phenomenon clearly. I have just written to Professor Defay, whom I have known for a long time, 

asking for his comments and suggestions. I shall inform you without delay to ask for your much appreciated opinion if you would. 

Please accept, Madame, and extend my best regards to your husband, Professor I. Prigogine and M.me Saraga. Yours sincerely, 

Enzo Ferroni”. (Translation by the author). 

The path was then traced during the two decades 1950-1970, and the consecration and consolidation 

of the Italian school on colloids, interfaces, and surfaces founded by Ferroni came in 1993 (vide infra) with 

the foundation of the Italian Centre for Colloids and Surfaces (Consorzio interuniversitario per lo sviluppo 

dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase, CSGI) which is still active. Enzo Ferroni was its President from the foundation 

until his death in 2007; its director for over 25 years was Piero Baglioni (Florence, 1952), who graduated in 

chemistry under the supervision of Ferroni in 1977, with the dissertation “Membranes selectively 

permeable to gases”. Baglioni succeeded in continuing the legacy and of his Maestro, leading the CSGI to 

become a Centre of Excellence highly regarded all over the world.99 

3. THE ADVENT OF RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPIES AND SURFACE DIFFRACTION TECHNIQUES 

When Ferroni returned to his hometown, he found a group of young scientists, partly pupils of his, 

partly of other colleagues at the University of Florence: the first group included the already mentioned 

Gabrielli, Guarini, Rovida, and Tiezzi; in the second one he found Bordi and Guidelli; and finally in the third 

Giorgio Taddei (Florence, 1935 – 2019), Mario Pio Marzocchi (Arezzo, 1935). A few years later, Giacomo 

Martini (Pistoia, 1943 – Quarrata, 2012), another chemist, albeit not one of his pupils, joined Ferroni’s team. 

As soon as he got back to the University of Florence on 15 December 1965, Ferroni took over the direction 

of the Institute of Physical Chemistry88, 89 and, strengthened by his experience at the University of Cagliari 

where he held the first chair in Italy of physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces in the academic year 

1963-1964,88 put together a group of scientists devoted to the physical chemistry of colloids, surfaces, and 

interfaces. 

He had already constituted the first seed during 1950-1961, writing some papers with Gabrielli and 

directing his pupil Guarini to investigate solid interfaces. Still, on his return to Florence at the end of 1965, 

he had his second great visionary idea, partly generated by a fortuitous case (vide infra), sowing the seed 

for a novel approach to the physical chemistry of large interface systems by exploiting the unique 

potentialities of the nascent resonance spectroscopies and surface diffraction instrumental techniques. 

Indeed, Ferroni had already perceived the importance of the spectroscopic approach when he published 

two papers with Marzocchi100, 101 studying halogen-amine interactions by infrared spectroscopy, but he had 

not yet in mind, immediately after the graduation of Tiezzi and Rovida, what topics could represent some 

new research lines in the field of colloids and surfaces. The fortuitous case originated the research line 

dealing with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Paramagnetic and Spin Resonance (EPR/ESR) 

spectroscopies, while the second idea was associated with the subject of surface diffraction techniques. 

Tiezzi and Rovida, after graduating in chemistry in 1963, became Ferroni’s assistants at the University of 

Cagliari where they remained until 1965 – Tiezzi – and 1966 – Rovida –, and participated with him in the 

20th International IUPAC Congress in Chemistry held in Moscow on 12 - 18 July 1965. Figure 3 shows Ferroni 

and Tiezzi at the Congress discussing with the Russian chemist and physicist Boris Vladimorovič Derjagin 

(1902 – 1994), one of the world’s most prominent scientists in the field of colloids and surfaces. 

 



 

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Figure 3. Photo taken during a coffee break at the International IUPAC Congress of Chemistry, Moscow, 12-18 July 1965: 

from left to right Enzo Ferroni, Enzo Tiezzi, and Boris Vladimorovič Derjagin. 

 

But Ferroni was also always eager to hire promising young researchers besides his pupils and 

consequently, when back to Florence, selected Leo Burlamacchi (Viareggio, 1933), a 1960 graduate from 

the University of Pisa, to work as a pioneer in the field of EPR/ESR. Indeed, Burlamacchi, as a graduate 

worked some years in the industry, and in 1965 he attended the laboratories at the National Council of 

Research, Institute on Microwaves in Florence, founded and directed by the distinguished physicist Nello 

Carrara (Florence, 1900 – 1993).102 In these laboratories, two instruments were built for EPR/ESR and NMR 

measurements. Still, nobody used them since no chemists – the principal users of such apparatuses for 

physicochemical characterisation – were present there at that time. Therefore, Burlamacchi had been 

involved in scientific investigations using these two emerging techniques. Ferroni, consulted by Director 

Carrara, immediately found a fellowship for Burlamacchi, entrusting him with opening new research 

frontiers. He suggested creating a couple of young researchers – Burlamacchi and his pupil Tiezzi – to 

introduce EPR/ESR and NMR techniques to the Florence research group on colloids and surfaces. The first 

papers103-107 showed that exploring these new frontiers of physicochemical research was possible. It is 

worth recalling that Tiezzi taught at the University of Cagliari102 when Ferroni held the chair of physical 

chemistry there. Even after Ferroni’s transfer to Florence in December 1965, Tiezzi continued his activity at 

the University of Cagliari. Ferroni himself suggested to Enzo Tiezzi to spend one year in the United States 

to deepen his knowledge of resonance techniques: indeed, during 1966 and 1967, Tiezzi worked in the 

laboratories of the University of Washington in St. Louis, Department of Physics under the supervision of 

Samuel I. Weissman (1912 – 2007) with a Fulbright scholarship, developing the use of electron spin 

resonance, and then as Post-Doctoral Research Associate, at the Department of Botany and Centre for the 

Biology of Natural Systems of the same University under the supervision of Barry Commoner (1917 – 2012), 

further refining his skills in the field of magnetic resonance spectroscopies. In particular, Tiezzi started to 

explore the possibility of using resonance spectroscopies in biology and medicine.102,108 Tiezzi would always 

be deeply grateful to Ferroni, stating several times that he considered Ferroni his mentor since the 

academic year 1957-1958 when he attended his lectures on Fundamentals of Chemistry 2nd course at the 

University of Florence.102 When Tiezzi returned to Florence, he was ready to carry out fundamental research 

using ESR/EPR and NMR spectroscopies collaborating with Burlamacchi and, from 1967, with the young 

Martini (see above).109-114 After the Florence flood, in 1967, Ferroni obtained funds to buy the EPR/ESR 

instrument from Varian that was placed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Florence 

in the city centre, via Gino Capponi, 7-9. Tiezzi would become a full professor in physical chemistry at the 

University of Siena in 1979 and one of the most distinguished scientists in the world developing, the first in 

Italy, the concept of sustainability together with other scientists from across the globe. Burlamacchi became 

a full professor in 1980 at the same University of Cagliari that twenty years before had welcomed Ferroni.  



 

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This research line was pursued for many years with the contribution of other people, among which the 

already mentioned Baglioni, Maurizio Romanelli (Florence, 1943) and Maria Francesca Ottaviani (Florence, 

1951; later Sandra Ristori (Florence, 1960) also joined the team. The research was developed in 

collaboration with Larry Kevan (1938 – 2002) at the Chemistry Department of the University of Houston. 

Many papers were published over several years, finally extending their scope to large interface systems, as 

it was in Ferroni’s mind.115-139 It is worth mentioning that Ferroni appeared only a few times as co-author of 

these studies of which he was a staunch supporter: we recognise in this behaviour both a commendable 

generosity and a habit of mind diametrically opposed to what one might imagine in the common sense of 

the university barony, and intellectual honesty, since Ferroni was aware that he had no skills in resonance 

techniques when he suggested to Burlamacchi to start his adventure with EPR/ESR and to Tiezzi with NMR. 

The fortuitous case allowed Ferroni to meet Nello Carrara and Leo Burlamacchi and to create the conditions 

for the subsequent development of resonance techniques in the Florence colloids and surfaces group 

headed by Ferroni. 

The second route associated with his visionary idea to apply new instrumental techniques to colloids 

and surfaces studies dealt with surface diffraction techniques. Ferroni set the goal to understand atomic 

and molecular mechanisms at the basis of gas adsorptions on well-characterised surfaces, namely {hkl} 

metal monocrystal faces. To realise this objective Ferroni encouraged his pupil Rovida to spend some 

months in Paris at Trillat’s Laboratories (vide infra) to ascertain whether the technique of Reflection of High 

Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) under grazing incidence was able to reach the goal or not. Rovida’s 

trials did not produce reliable results. Indeed, Ferroni was fascinated by the concept of understanding 

atomic and molecular mechanisms at the basis of gas adsorptions onto solid surfaces. When he was back 

at the University of Florence, Ferroni had the opportunity to read a brochure illustrating that, thanks to the 

ultra-high-vacuum instrumentation supplied by Varian Associates, it had become possible to build 

instrumentations able to collect reproducible and well-interpretable Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) 

patterns. Ferroni was impressed by the brochure's content, which illustrated this innovative technique's 

impressive power to study all the phenomena at the solid-vacuum interface, especially to deepen the gas 

adsorption mechanisms onto well-characterised solid surfaces, namely well-defined crystallographic faces. 

The future Nobel Prize in chemistry (2007) Gerhard Ertl (Stuttgart, 1936) was involved in these studies, and 

two years later he published a ground-breaking article that opened vast horizons for surface science 

studies.140 Ferroni grasped the opportunity and gave Rovida the brochure asking his opinion about the new 

LEED instrumentation. The answer was positive and a new and fascinating challenge started. Ferroni 

obtained funds to order the LEED apparatus, which arrived in the autumn of 1966. Still, it had to remain at 

the customs offices for several months due to the Florence flood (vide infra) that had damaged the Institute 

of Physical Chemistry of the University. Finally, during the spring of 1967, the LEED instrument arrived, was 

installed, and in a short time, the first two articles on surface studies by LEED from the University of Florence 

Institute of Physical Chemistry were published.141, 142 Once again, the path was open thanks to a scientist 

who constantly desired to see farther, to guide his pupils, but simultaneously leave them free to unleash 

their talents and abilities without undue pressure or need for complacency and flattery towards him. In the 

following years, the group that welcomed Ermanno Zanazzi, Marco Torrini, Ugo Bardi and Andrea Atrei 

gradually came to be headed by Rovida and published many important papers,143-157 establishing 

international cooperations, among which the most meaningful was that with Gabor A. Somorjai (1935), 

University of California, Berkeley.158, 159 

4. FLORENCE FLOOD (1966): CHEMISTRY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION 

As it is well known160 the dramatic event of the Florence flood on 4 November 1966, caused a great 

echo across the world, mainly because of the extensive damages suffered by the exceptional concentration 

of cultural heritage present in the city. This echo is well condensed in the book Dark Water by Robert Clarke: 

“There is Florence and there is Firenze. Firenze is the city where the citizens of the capital of Tuscany live 



 

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and work. Florence is the place where the rest of us come to look.” 160 Ferroni had been back in Florence for 

just a year and he was immediately involved with all his other colleagues in rescuing damaged 

instrumentations, books, documents, chemicals, laboratory glassware from the Chemistry Institutes (see 

Figure 4) in the centre of the city where the Arno’s water reached ca. 1 m of height. After the emergency 

of the first few days, it appeared clear that the damage to the works of art was vast, especially for the wall 

paintings that could not be removed. Ferroni understood that a scientific approach was essential to help in 

solving the myriad of problems that conservators and cultural heritage officials encountered. During those 

frantic days Ferroni was able to invent two different methodologies and simultaneously inaugurate a new 

epoch for conservation and restoration, the scientific approach and the continued and constant integration 

between art history, conservation, science and specifically chemistry.161  

 

Figure 4. Enzo Ferroni rescuing some laboratory glassware from the cellars of the 

Chemical Institutes of the University of Florence some days after November 4, 1966. 

 

The first dramatic emergency came from the rapid deterioration of the fresco L’ultima cena (The last 

supper) by Taddeo Gaddi (ca. 1300 – 1366) in the Refectory of Santa Croce Basilica. After the waters receded 

the consequent salt efflorescence due to nitrates was rapidly causing the colour to fall off the wall. This 

masterpiece was literally vanishing before the anxious eyes of the experts. The only solution was to urgently 

detach the fresco from the wall and transfer it onto another suitable support. Unfortunately, the 

detachment was made impossible due to the very high nitrates concentration into the water impregnating 

the porous structure of the wall. This high ionic force inhibited the sol → gel transition of the animal glue 

solutions used to impregnate both the paint surface and the canvases onto which, after the gelation of the 

animal glue, the painting layers would have had adhered allowing the detachment of a few microns of 

pictorial mortar. The situation was desperate; each day that went by, the coloured powder was found at 

the feet of the fresco. Ferroni remembered some of his studies96, 162 where he had demonstrated that 

tributyl-phosphate (TBP), an organic compound almost insoluble in water (only 6 g/L at 20 °C)163 and with 

very low surface tension (27.79 mN/m at 20 °C),163 forms monomolecular films onto nitrates water solution 



 

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with an average molecular area depending on the cations, due to the formation of the different complexes 

at the water-air interface. He thought that wetting the wall surface with TBP would lead to monomolecular 

films spread onto the aqueous nitrate solution layers, which adhered to the solid particles of both the 

mortar and the pigments, besides filling the wall pores. In a way, he prefigured that in this manner, the 

whole exposed surface of the first layers of the wall would become highly hydrophobic due to TBP, forming 

a sort of impermeable film that would prevent the migration of the ions coming from the nitrates into the 

animal glue solution, which therefore would be able to gel and allow the subsequent detachment.164, 165 

The various experts were very sceptical about this hypothesis, and Ferroni replied as Isaac Newton: 

“hypotheses non fingo, please try!” The trial was carried out by the restorer Dino Dini on a small portion of 

a less famous fresco by Jacopo Ligozzi (ca. 1547 – 1627) and the result was astonishing: the glue set, and 

the small portion could be easily detached. The whole fresco by Gaddi was then subjected to the same 

treatment, detached, and repositioned in the same place onto appropriate support. It is still there in good 

health: it was an actual rescue rather than a restoration or conservation intervention. Without this most 

significant and brilliant idea by the chemist Ferroni, we would not be able to admire this wonderful work of 

art now.  

The second critical question about wall painting damage was the worsening of the degradation by a 

process called sulphatisation.166 The transformation of the binding CaCO3, formed by the setting of lime, 

into gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) resulted in a severe deterioration of the painted surface with formation of white 

patinas, crusts, powdering, and other dangerous pathologies that compromised both the reading and the 

stability of the pictorial surface: it was evident that the flood had visibly accelerated this phenomenon. 

Again, Ferroni activated his brilliant and eclectic mind and proposed to re-convert gypsum into CaCO3 by 

using ammonium carbonate followed by a barium hydroxide treatment. To ascertain whether this chemical 

approach was effective in recovering a readable and compact painting surface, Ferroni remembered both 

his time at the CNRS Laboratoire de Diffraction des Rayons X at Bellevue in France and the 

correspondence167 with its Director Jean Jacques Trillat (Paris, 1899 – Versailles, 1987). Trillat was a very 

distinguished scientist with expertise in colloids and interfaces. In 1956 he authored a fundamental book168 

and precursor of the studies that would be developed in Italy by Ferroni, such as those on molecular layers 

of fatty substances on metals.169 Reflecting on these memories, Ferroni and co-workers measured the 

reconversion of gypsum to CaCO3 using ammonium carbonate and subsequent barium hydroxide treatment 

by X-Rays Diffraction (XRD) using an apparatus invented by Trillat and reconstructed at the Institute of 

Physical Chemistry of the University of Florence.170 The results were extremely encouraging since the XRD 

patterns were in agreement with a total reconversion (see Figure 5). The successive application on the wall 

painting San Domenico in adorazione del crocifisso (St. Dominic in adoration of the crucifix) by Beato 

Angelico (ca. 1395 – 1455) at the San Marco Convent in Florence showed excellent results, not only in terms 

of reconversion but also in firmly consolidating the painting surface and the thin layers of mortar (intonaco) 

underneath.171 During the subsequent years and up to the present day, this technique became the legacy 

of wall painting conservators worldwide. It was named the Ferroni-Dini method after the chemist inventor 

and the conservator who devised and applied the procedure.172-178  



 

11 
 

 
Figure 5. Enzo Ferroni close to a flow chart recorder during the collection of XRD to ascertain the mechanism 

of the frescoes' sulphatisation and the reconversion to calcium carbonate thanks to the treatment 

with ammonium carbonate followed by barium hydroxide, the so-called Ferroni-Dini method. 

Ferroni’s passion for connecting science and art continued throughout his life, and several other 

studies testified to the outstanding contribution this chemist made to the world of cultural heritage 

conservation: autogenous lime-based grouts179-181 and oil-in-water microemulsions182-185 used for the 

conservation of wall paintings by Masaccio (1401 – 1428) in the Brancacci Chapel164, 165, 186-188 in Florence, 

the role of the deliquescent salts189, 190 for the deterioration of the wall paintings of La leggenda della vera 

croce (The legend of the true cross) by Piero della Francesca (ca. 1412 – 1492) in the San Francesco Basilica 

in Arezzo,191 the chemical stability of some pigments192 or solvents193 used for cleaning pictorial surfaces, 

until his last intuition about a possible role of nanoscience and nanotechnology194-199 for a revolutionary 

approach to conservation and restoration. Ferroni had been convinced ever since that the studies dealing 

with the physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces with potential applications for cultural heritage 

conservation had to be considered on par with traditional physicochemical papers. Towards the end of his 

long career, he received a prestigious award when the Journal named after the scientist that was Ferroni’s 

inspiration, Irving Langmuir, decided to dedicate the cover of its 26th issue of 1999, published on 1 

December to a photo illustrating the damage done by salt efflorescence in wall paintings. The image was 

the damaged face of Christ in The last supper by Taddeo Gaddi, which Ferroni had rescued about thirty 

years before. The article200 was penned, among others, by two of Ferroni’s pupils, Piero Baglioni and the 

author of the present article. Subsequently, many renowned international journals accepted papers on the 

physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces devoted to bringing a contribution to the improvement of 

cultural heritage conservation and sometimes dedicating again their covers201: Enzo Ferroni’s challenge was 

definitively won at the beginning of the 21st century, as testified by various papers201-208 that received critical 

reviews .209-220 

5. NEW FRONTIERS IN SOFT MATTER 

As previously written, at the beginning of the 1990s, the physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces 

was well cultivated at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Florence into which, in 1983, the 

Institute of Physical Chemistry was merged. There were at least six sub-groups that germinated from the 

seeds sown by Ferroni: the teams of monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett films (Gabrielli with her pupil 

Gabriella Caminati, Florence, 1960), surface diffraction techniques (Rovida), ESR/EPR (Martini), solid-state 

reactions and solid-gas interfaces (Guarini), scattering techniques (Baglioni), and electrified interfaces 

(Guidelli). Moreover, in almost all the Universities in Italy, there were scientists actively working on these 



 

12 
 

topics and the discipline that forty years before was almost inexistent in Italy was in excellent health. During 

the second part of the 1970s and the entire 1980s, Ferroni pointed his attention to monomolecular films 

constituted of polymers.221-231 This interest had been certainly inspired by his previous relationship with the 

Nobel laureate Giulio Natta167 and by the Flory-Huggins theory232-234 for polymer solutions. Indeed, one of 

the articles Ferroni published in these years directly involved Huggins221. The results of a study on the bi-

dimensional state conformation of poly β-benzyl-L-aspartate were compared precisely with Huggins’ 

theory. 

Ferroni’s interest in surface properties of polymers was also stimulated by reading the studies by de 

Gennes: the future Nobel laureate in physics (1991) considered the physical chemistry of polymers at the 

interface and their interactions with surfactants as one of the most advanced topics in the physics of the 

condensed phases.235-241 The year after winning the Nobel Prize, de Gennes published a short survey on 

Science entitled Soft Matter:242 a new era for physics, chemistry, and physical chemistry was born, and 

Ferroni would have been pleased to have preconised, some forty years before, that this branch of science 

had the characteristics to play a fundamental role. In his article,242 de Gennes explained the peculiarities of 

this soft matter, often called complex fluids, and he introduced the two main characteristics: complexity 

and flexibility. He then investigated the various systems that can be considered as belonging to this fourth 

state of the matter: polymers, surfactants, monolayers, bilayers and multilayers, cell membranes, liquid 

crystals, micelles, vesicles, and liposomes. This opened a staggering multitude of theoretical and applicative 

studies in many fields, such as biology and medicine, materials science, technology, and electronics, among 

others. 

Ferroni thought that the times were ripe to launch the institution of a National Centre for Colloids and 

Interfaces. On 4 May 1993, a new Government was constituted with Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi 

(Livorno, 1920 – Rome, 2016), the future President of the Italian Republic, and the chemist and industrialist 

Umberto Colombo (Livorno, 1927 – Rome, 2006) was appointed as the Minister for the university and 

scientific research. Colombo immediately saw the strategic importance of Ferroni’s proposal regarding the 

institution of a National Centre on Colloids and Surfaces, and at the end of 1993, the Consorzio 

interuniversitario per lo sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase, CSGI – as was called the National Centre 

for Colloids and Surfaces – was born under the supervision and control of the Italian Ministry for university 

and scientific research. Ferroni was appointed President, and his pupil Baglioni, Director.  

 

6. APPLIED CHEMISTRY, TECHNOLOGY, AND INDUSTRY 

The first mention in the Chemical Abstract of Enzo Ferroni as an author is relative to an Italian patent243 

deposited on 27 February 1948 aimed to formulate a thermosetting powder. The young researcher who 

had carried out a chemistry master’s degree thesis on theoretical considerations of chemical kinetics,22 

immediately demonstrated to be interested in aspects dealing with applied chemistry, technology, and 

industry. Indeed, this feeling and approach would continue throughout his long career and life: Ferroni 

profoundly understood the deep meaning of IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), 

that, as its name implies, focused on the union of pure and applied chemistry.  

Among the various aspects of his applied research, we selected four emblematic instances of his 

approach. First, we thought it significant to recall the ten years of correspondence between Ferroni and 

Natta from 1958 until 1968, as recently studied by Laura Colli.167 The interaction between them was intense 

and found its significant moment just one year after the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Natta: they 

published a paper in cooperation that linked the two domains of study these scientists had carried out in 

the last years, that is polymers for Natta and surface adsorbed films for Ferroni.244 



 

13 
 

The second significant contribution was generated by the extended partnership with the Italian entity 

SnamProgetti operating in the field of fuels and energy. Ferroni was convinced that the idea of 

SnamProgetti to build a coal pipeline, apparently, a utopian mirage, could actually be pursued since large 

interface systems as coal-water stable dispersions would be able to generate slurries with suitable fluidity 

to flow into the pipeline and simultaneously burn at the end of the pipeline without separating the coal 

from the water. Thanks to some ad hoc surfactants Ferroni and co-workers developed stable suspensions 

of fine powdery coal in water containing up to 70% coal by weight, which was above the threshold required 

to be burnt without eliminating water.245, 246 These suspensions are called slurries, and they were heavily 

investigated247-249 discovering their viscosity behaviour as non-Newtonian fluids with memory. Ferroni had 

the idea to involve his friend and colleague, the mathematician Mario Primicerio (Rome, 1932), in the study: 

the mathematical analysis succeeded in calculating the exact length (security distance) of the pipeline 

between two contiguous pumping stations to avoid coal sedimentation and stoppage.250, 251  

Another interesting connection with the industry to find applications of large interface systems has 

already been mentioned in section 4. dedicated to chemistry applied to cultural heritage conservation. Both 

autogenous lime-based grouts and oil-in-water microemulsions created during the conservation workshop 

of the Masaccio, Masolino, and Filippo Lippi wall paintings in the Brancacci Chapel were developed in 

cooperation with the national industry Syremont S.p.A. whose President at the time was a friend of 

Ferroni’s, Paolo L. Parrini.179-184 

Finally, there was the long and fruitful cooperation with yet another industrial sector, Tecnotessile of 

Prato, founded in 1972 and still actively operating in the field of new technologies applied in the textile 

industry. Ferroni was designated as President of this Technology Centre right from its inception in 1972. In 

1980 he was still collaborating with the textile industry district in Prato (see Figure 6). 

 

Figure 6. During the workshop “Energy and industry, financial aspects, technological Innovations: the experience in the textile 

sector at Prato” held in Prato on 28 November 1980: Enzo Ferroni is the fourth from the left seated at the organisers’ table. 

 

The cooperation was mainly dedicated to developing large interface systems able to improve textile 

production. Ferroni was convinced that soft matter could offer many fruitful opportunities to the textile 

industry, but at that time, the textile industry was not ready to develop strong synergies with academic 

research. And again, in this case as well, Ferroni could see ahead of him: at the beginning of the 21st century, 

some papers from researchers of the CSGI were published, and Ferroni was lucky enough to see them.252-



 

14 
 

256  The last of his ideas we will mention is that of UV radiation-absorbing fabrics using nanotechnology; it 

was again a brilliant idea, but Ferroni was not able to read the paper: it was published online on 30 October  

2007, six and half months after the eclectic chemist had passed away.257 

7. CONCLUSIONS 

The scientific activity of Enzo Ferroni, critically revisited and investigated in the present study, allowed 

us to individuate the main original, novel, and creative ideas developed by this scientist, who operated 

mainly in the second half of the last century. It showed how he succeeded in creating a new physicochemical 

school in Italy on colloids, interfaces, and surfaces, a field that the future would reveal particularly worthy 

of being thoroughly investigated until the end of the 20th century when it became a sort of new state of the 

matter called “soft”, after the studies by the 1991 Nobel laureate in physics Pierre-Gilles de Gennes. 

Ferroni perceived this discipline's enormous potential, studying Irving Langmuir's work and deepening 

his knowledge and skills attending the laboratories led by Raymond Defay and Ilya Prigogine at the 

Université Libre de Bruxelles. His first visionary idea to develop a branch of physical chemistry, almost 

neglected in Italy until the end of the Second World War, was followed by his second extraordinary intuition 

of applying the new and budding resonance spectroscopies (NMR and EPR/ESR) to research, first in solution 

chemistry and successively to investigate large interface systems. 

His eclecticism forcefully emerged in the aftermath of the Florence flood in 1966 when he understood 

that chemistry, and science and technology in general, could play a fundamental role first in solving the 

dramatic and urgent problems facing the damaged works of art and then inaugurating a new conception of 

conservation and restoration, with solid scientific bases and a continuous cross-exchange among different 

and complementary competencies to create what, in the following years, would become the field of 

scientific restoration and conservation of cultural heritage. All these merits were acknowledged in the 

obituary that appeared in The Independent.258 

The consecration of his visionary ideas and intuition arrived in 1991 when Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was 

awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for having discovered that the methods developed for studying ordinary 

phenomena in simple systems can be generalised to more complex states of matter, especially liquid 

crystals, and polymers, individuating soft matter as a peculiar form of matter in the condensed phase. Some 

new topics, such as supramolecular chemistry, soft matter, self-assembly, nanoscience and 

nanotechnology, nanoscopic phases, and so on, surely have their root in the colloids and surfaces that 

Ferroni selected as his main interest for his long academic career. 

The paper also showed Ferroni’s eclecticism, considering his vision of the relationship between 

fundamental or basic research and applied chemistry, technology, and connection with industry. Ferroni 

was always convinced that all aspects of research possessed equal dignity, and the proof of this vision was 

the close relationship that Ferroni had with the Nobel laureate in chemistry Giulio Natta and the numerous 

applied studies he carried out having as Partners important companies in the energy, fuels, and textiles 

sectors. 

Thanks to his long and fruitful work, Ferroni received numerous awards, among which we recall: the 

Gold Medal by the Italian Ministry of the Public Education (1967) as meritorious for school, culture, and art 

for “his generous collaboration offered for the preservation and recovery of the artistic and cultural 

heritage of Florence damaged by the flood of 4 November 1966”; the designation of Grande Ufficiale 

dell’Ordine (1977) by the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Leone (Naples, 1908 – Rome, 2001); the 

granting of the title Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (1979) by the President of the French Republic 

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (Coblenz, 1926 – Authon, 2020); the title of Emeritus in physical chemistry (1997) 

by the Italian Minister for the university and scientific research Luigi Berlinguer (Sassari, 1932). 



 

15 
 

The amazing variety of interests and subsequent content of his numerous studies and papers leads to 

conclude that for Enzo Ferroni, two different statements – the first by Leonardo da Vinci259 and the second 

by Primo Levi260 – can be used to summarise his multifaceted personality. Leonardo stated, “study science 

first, and then follow the practice born from that science” (“studia prima la scienza, e poi seguita la pratica 

nata da essa scienza”)259. Levi wrote about his the following, speaking about his own chemistry, and we 

suggest the same is applicable to Ferroni’s: “[a] solitary chemistry, unarmed and on foot, at the measure of 

man, which with few exceptions has been mine:  but it has also been the chemistry of the founders, who did 

not work in teams, but alone, surrounded by the indifference of their time, generally without profit, and who 

confronted matter without aids, with their brains and hands, reason and imagination” (“chimica solitaria, 

inerme e appiedata, a misura d’uomo, che con poche eccezioni è stata la mia: ma è stata anche la chimica dei 

fondatori, che non lavoravano in équipe ma soli, in mezzo all’indifferenza del loro tempo, per lo più senza 

guadagno, e affrontavano la materia senza aiuti, col cervello e con le mani, con la ragione e la fantasia”).260 Ken 

Shulman, in his wonderful book on the Brancacci Chapel,164 succeeded in masterfully condensing these two 

quotations in an exceptional sentence: “Ferroni preferred to work alone, ruminating in his office in the early 

morning, applying his genially elastic mind until arriving at a solution”.261 

8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

The author expresses his gratitude to Drs Annantonia Martorano, Andrea De Santis, and Fabio Silari of 

the University of Florence, Dr Eleonora Todde of the University of Cagliari for the kind collaboration in 

finding the documents in the various Archives; thanks are also due to Sonia Carla Torretta for the accurate 

and careful revision of the English language and to Lucia Cappelli, Librarian at The British Institute of 

Florence for the kind assistance. The author also wishes to express his deep gratitude to Gabriella Caminati, 

Maurizio Romanelli, Marco Fontani, Maria Francesca Ottaviani, and Giulietta Smulevich for the valuable 

discussions about stories associated with the life of Enzo Ferroni. Section 3. The advent of resonance 

spectroscopies and surface diffraction techniques benefited from the invaluable testimonies of Leo 

Burlamacchi and Gianfranco Rovida, to whom the author expresses his deep gratitude. The financial 

support of the Fondi d’Ateneo per la ricerca from the Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff” of the 

University of Florence is gratefully acknowledged. 

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174. E. Ferroni, D. Dini, in The conservation of stone II. Preprints of the contributions to the International 

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184. E. Ferroni, G. Gabrielli, G. Caminati, ‘Process for cleaning hydrophobic porous matrices’, European 

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185. E. Carretti, P. Baglioni, B. Salvadori, L. Dei, Stud. Conserv. 2005, 50(2), 128-136, DOI: 

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186. C. Haberman, New York Times June 9, 1990, Section 1, p.11. 

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188. O. Casazza, Masaccio and the Brancacci Chapel, Riverside Book Company, New York, 1990, ISBN: 

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189. F. Piqué, L. Dei, E. Ferroni, Stud. Conserv. 1992, 37(4), 217-227, DOI: 10.1179/sic.1992.37.4.217. 

190. F. Piqué, P. Baglioni, L. Dei, E. Ferroni, Sci. Techn. Cult. Herit. 1994, 3, 155-162. 

191. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/piero-della-francesca_%28Il-Libro-dell%27Anno%29/. 

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193. L. Dei, P. Baglioni, G. Sarti, E. Ferroni, Stud. Conserv. 1996, 41(1), 9-18, 10.1179/sic.1996.41.1.9. 

194. P. Baglioni, L. Dei, E. Ferroni, R. Giorgi, ‘Sospensioni stabili di idrossido di calcio’, Italian Patent Nr. 

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195. R. Giorgi, Stabilità di sospensioni di idrossido di calcio in alcoli alifatici a catena corta. Applicazioni 

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196. M. Ambrosi, Preparazione e caratterizzazione chimico-fisica di nanoparticelle cristalline di Ca(OH)2. 

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197. R. Giorgi, L. Dei, P. Baglioni, Stud. Conserv. 2000, 45(3), 154-161, DOI: 10.1179/sic.2000.45.3.154. 

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200. L. Dei, M. Mauro, P. Baglioni, C. Manganelli Del Fa, F. Fratini, Langmuir 1999, 15(26), 8915-8922, DOI: 

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201. I. Natali, E. Carretti, L. Angelova, P. Baglioni, R. G. Weiss, L. Dei, Langmuir 2011, 27(15), 13226–13235, 

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202. E. Carretti, L. Dei, P. Baglioni, Langmuir 2003, 19(19), 7867-7872, DOI: 10.1021/la034757q. 

203. E. Carretti, L. Dei, A. Macherelli, R. G. Weiss, Langmuir 2004, 20(20), 8414-8418, DOI: 

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205. E. Carretti, D. Berti, R. Giorgi, P. Baglioni, Langmuir 2007, 23(11), 6396-6403, DOI: 

10.1021/la700487s. 

206. E. Carretti, E. Fratini, D. Berti, P. Baglioni, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 8966-8969, DOI: 

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207. E. Carretti, S. Grassi, M. Cossalter, I. Natali, G. Caminati, R. G. Weiss, P. Baglioni, L. Dei, Langmuir 

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211. M. S. Lasney, The art of organogels, Today’s Chemist at Work, American Chemical Society, November 

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212. A. G., Reversible gels restores artwork, Science News 2004, 166(17), 269. 

213. M. Caporlingua, “Il gel per il restauro che non rovina i dipinti”, Corriere della Sera, 5 dicembre 2004. 

214. S. Abbott, Softly-softly approach to art conservation, Chem. Technol. RSC 2005, 2(5), T18. 

215. A. King, Nano scrub brushes for Renaissance masterpieces, J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84(11), 1738. 

216. C. Q Choi, Fancy salad dressing utilised to clean Renaissance art, www.foxnews.com, May 15, 2007. 

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223. G. Gabrielli, P. Baglioni, E. Ferroni, Coll. Polymer Sci. 1979, 257(11), 1207-1211. 

224. G. Gabrielli, P. Baglioni, E. Ferroni, Coll. Polymer Sci. 1980, 258(2), 148-151. 

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