Annaclara Cataldi Palau: key obituary facts
Is Annaclara Cataldi Palau dead? Yes. Annaclara Cataldi Palau died on October 30, 2026, at age 76.
Cause of death: Annaclara Cataldi Palau's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Annaclara Cataldi Palau known for?
She was an Italian palaeographer.
More about Annaclara Cataldi Palau
Born: 1950.
Gender: female.
Occupation: academic.
Employer: King's College London.
Annaclara Cataldi Palau, an Italian Hellenist and palaeographer, died October 30, 2026, aged 76.
She specialised in Greek medieval and Renaissance palaeography and the history of the book. Born in Genoa, she studied Classics at the University of Genoa before spending several years in Paris.
There, she studied Greek palaeography at the Sorbonne, completing a doctorate in the field. In 1994, she was commissioned to catalogue the Greek manuscripts at Oxford’s Bodleian Library; the catalogue, resulting from that work, appeared in 2011. She also served as a visiting professor in the Department of Classics at King’s College London. Her research addressed the dating and characteristics of Greek manuscripts from the medieval and Renaissance periods. In considering how to distinguish eighth-century manuscripts from those of the ninth, she proposed attention to the development and regularity of accentuation. These features suggested a ninth-century date, while abundant colourful decoration was, in her account, atypical of eighth-century books. Such manuscripts more often had uncomplicated initials than rich ornament. Her criteria made the manuscripts’ writing and decoration relevant to determining their date.