Antonio Personeni was born in Sondrio in May 1917. He was the third child of six brothers. Vittoria, the lastborn child, is a painter. In 1941, after graduating in Economics at Milan Università Bocconi, Antonio Personeni volunteered to join the army as foot soldier and left for Russia. Back to Italy after the war, he settled in Milan where he set up an export business (textile machines). In the early '50s Personeni approached new markets in Yugoslavia and Greece. He went to Turkey where he struck up a great number of business relations. Until 1965 he used to go there regularly, three/four times a year.

On his first travels to the East Personeni developed a passion for ancient glassware, which he started collecting. His personal collection includes more than 120 artistic pieces of various shapes.

The Personeni collection was recently given to Milan Archaeological Museum. Credito Valtellinese Gallery, in association with the above-mentioned museum and sponsored by Sondrio Municipal Authorities decided to exhibit the collection also in Sondrio.

The most interesting pieces of the exhibition mounted by Elisabetta Roffia are glass objects (more than a hundred exhibits) from the private collection that Antonio Personeni generously gave to Milan Archaeological Collections a few years ago. The exhibits belong to the Roman Age and come from the East Mediterranean, where glassblowing techniques were first used. From those regions, in particular from Syria and Palestine, handmade glassware and glassblowing techniques rapidly spread to the West in the I century becoming a common heritage of the numerous glassworks shops of the Roman Empire.

The Personeni collection was recently restored and exhibited at the Gallery, where you can also find a brochure. The exhibition includes table glassware and pots, jars for keeping oils and aromatic substances used for the body care and a few ornamental objects of various shape that date from the Roman Age (I to V century). There are also a few later exhibits.

The exhibition includes a few glass plates that were found by the Franciscan monks during excavations in Capernaum, Israel, the ancient town where, the Gospel reads, Peter and Andrew were born and Jesus had been preaching. The six plates and more glassware were found a few years ago in a Roman house larder. Their restoration has been sponsored by Credito Valtellinese. This kind of glassware was used in the late I century and in the early II century.