Cavallo graduated from theUniversity of Bari in 1961, tutored byCarlo Ferdinando Russo; shortly after, he became assistant ofAlessandro Pratesi, then Professor of palaeography anddiplomatic. In 1969, he moved to Rome and first became assistant of Greek Palaeography at the Special School for Archivists and Librarians (then Professor of Latin paleography since 1975), also teaching 'Storia della tradizione manoscritta' (History of the manuscript tradition) at the 'Sapienza' University of Rome. In 1978, he became Professor of Greek Palaeography in Rome.[1] He retired from his teaching duties in 2008 and was nominated Emeritus.
As of 2022, he is the President of the Comitato per l'edizione nazionale dei classici greci e latini (i.e. 'Committee for the National Edition of Greek and Latin Classical [Texts]') and Coordinator of its periodical journal, theBollettino dei Classici.[2]
Cavallo is one of the leading Italian palaeographers, specializing inpapyrology, Greek and Latin writing of the Ancient and Medieval times and history of the manuscript tradition.[3] His first major academic publication was an extensive study of Greek uncial (also known as 'Biblical uncial').[4] In 1974, he delivered a paper at the International Colloquium of Greek Palaeography held inParis, proposing a new method for studying Greek uncial of the VIII–IX centuries.[5] In 1983, Cavallo produced the first catalogue of Greek hands found in theHerculaneum papyri.[6]
He examined and describedCodex Basilensis A. N. III. 12 and dated it to the early 8th century.[4] He examinedPapyrus 39,Uncial 059,0175,0187,Lectionary 1386 and many other Greek manuscripts from the Byzantine period and organized and directed facsimile editions of Greek manuscripts such as theCodex Purpureus Rossanensis[7] and theDioscurides Neapolitanus[8] and the 25th[9] and the 19th[9] volumes of theChartae Latinae Antiquiores (ChLA). In 1997, with Giovanna Nicolaj, he founded the second series of the ChLA (Chartae Latinae Antiquiores series II – ChLA2), containing volumes L to CXVI and voll. CXVII (appendix to Italy) and CXVIII (appendix toSwitzerland,Luxembourg andSpain).[10] He also edited facsimiles of Greek and Latin manuscripts and two collections of reproductions, with commentary, of Greek literary hands from the early Byzantine and Hellenistic periods, with H. Maehler.[11][12] In 2008, he published a handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography of papyri.[13]
With Italian philologist Luca Canali he edited a collection of Roman epigraphs with translation and commentary;[14] with Italian medievalist Giovanni Orlandi he edited theHistories ofRodulfus Glaber;[15] in 2017, he wrote the introduction to the first volume of the Italian edition ofNiketas Choniates'History.[16] In 2023, he published a new, collected edition of the 'canons' or lists of exemplary Greek authors from the antiquity toByzantium.[17]
He authored and/or edited around 500 scientific works, some of which have been translated into foreign languages.[18][19]
In 1970, Paul Canart (thenscriptor Graecus – i.e. conservator of Greek manuscripts – at theVatican Library and one of the worldwide leading scholars in Greek palaeography) published an article praising Cavallo's work on Greek uncial.[20] Ten years later, Armando Petrucci praised Cavallo as the "greatest specialist" in Greek Palaeography.[21]
The complete bibliography up to 2004 can be found inDegni, Paola; Maniaci, Marilena, eds. (2004).Bibliografia degli scritti di Guglielmo Cavallo (1963-2004). I libri di Viella 39. Roma: Viella.ISBN9788883341236.
Cavallo, Guglielmo;Maehler, Herwig, eds. (1987).Greek Bookhands of the Early Byzantine Period (A.D. 300–800). London: University of London – Institute of Classical Studies.ISBN9780900587511.
Cavallo, Guglielmo; Gribomont, Jeann; Loerke, William C., eds. (1985–1987).Codex purpureus Rossanensis. Museo dell'Arcivescovado, Rossano Calabro. Codices mirabiles 1. Roma – Graz: Salerno Editrice – Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt.ISBN9788885026926.
Cavallo, Guglielmo; Lilla, Salvatore; Orofino, Giulia, eds. (1988–1992).Erbario greco. Edizione integrale in facsimile del manoscritto Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, ex Vindob. Gr. 1. Codices mirabiles 2. Roma – Graz: Salerno Editrice – Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt.ISBN8884020808.
Cavallo, Guglielmo; Magistrale, Francesco; Tjäder, Jan-Olof, eds. (1993).Chartae Latinae Antiquiores. Vol. XIX =Italy 10. Dietikon – Zurich: URS Graf.ISBN3-85951-155-6.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1967a).Ricerche sulla maiuscola biblica. Studi e Testi di Papirologia editi dall'Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli» dell'Università di Firenze 2. Firenze: Le Monnier.ISBN9788800876155.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1973).Rotoli di Exultet dell'Italia Meridionale. Preface by Armando Petrucci and including some contributions by Carlo Bertelli. Bari: Adriatica Editrice.
Belting, Hans; Cavallo, Gugliemo (1979).Der Bible des Niketas. Ein Werk der höfischen Buchkunst in Byzanz und sein antikes Vorbild. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (2002).Dalla parte del libro. Storie di trasmissione dei classici. Ludus philologiae 10. Urbino: Quattroventi.ISBN9788839206237.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (2005). Del Corso, Lucio (ed.).Il calamo e il papiro. La scrittura greca dall'età ellenistica ai primi secoli di Bisanzio. Papyrologica Florentina 36. Firenze: Libreria Antiquaria Gonnelli.ISBN9788874680276.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (2008).La scrittura greca e latina dei papiri. Una introduzione. Pisa – Roma: Fabrizio Serra Editore.ISBN9788862270144.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (2019).Scrivere e leggere nella città antica. Roma: Carocci.ISBN9788843095827.
Cavallo, Guglielmo, ed. (1982).I bizantini in Italia. Milano: Garzanti – Scheiwiller.
Cavallo, Guglielmo, ed. (1992) [1989].Libri, editori e pubblico nel mondo antico. Guida storica e critica. Biblioteca Universale Laterza (II ed.). Roma – Bari: Laterza.ISBN8842034959.
Cavallo, Guglielmo; Chartier, Roger, eds. (1995).Storia della lettura nel mondo occidentale. Roma – Bari: Laterza.ISBN9788842047544.
Cavallo, Guglielmo, ed. (1997).The Byzantines. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.ISBN9780226097923.
Cavallo, Guglielmo, ed. (2004).La cultura bizantina. Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo 3/1. Roma: Salerno Editrice.ISBN9788884024565.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1970). "La KOINH scrittoria greco-romana nella prassi documentale di età bizantina".Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik.19:1–31. (* 43–72)
Cavallo, Gugliemo (1973). "Considerazioni di un paleografo per la data e l'origine della "Iliade Ambrosiana"".Dialoghi di Archeologia.7:70–85. (* 163–174)
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1975). "Γράμματα Ἀλεξανδρῖνα".Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik.24:23–54. (* 175–202)
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1977). "Funzione e strutture della maiuscola greca tra i secoli VIII-IX".La Paléographie grecque et byzantine. Paris 21-25 octobre 1974. Paris: Éditions du C.N.R.S. pp. 91–110.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1981). "Il libro come oggetto d'uso nel mondo bizantino".Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik.31:395–423.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (1982). "Scritture italo-greche librarie e documentarie. Note introduttive ad uno studio correlato".Bisanzio e l'Italia. Raccolte di studi in memoria di Agostino Pertusi (in Italian). Milano: Vita e Pensiero. pp. 28–38.
Cavallo, Guglielmo (2017). "Stralci di storia di un gruppo di manoscritti greci del secolo IX". In Chiesa, Paolo; Fagnoni, Anna Maria; Guglielmetti, Rossana E. (eds.).Ingenio facilis. Per Giovanni Orlandi (1938-2007). Millennio Medievale 111. Strumenti e studi nuova serie 43. Firenze: SISMEL – Edizioni del Galluzzo. pp. 3–64.ISBN9788884508003.
Niketas Choniates (2017). Pontani, Anna; van Dieten, Jan-Luis (eds.).Grandezza e catastrofe di Bisanzio. Scrittori Greci e Latini. Vol. 1. Milano: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla – Mondadori. pp. XVII–LVIII.ISBN9788804664512.
^Canart, Paul (1970)."Les travaux de Guglielmo Cavallo sur la majuscule grecque".Byzantion.40 (1):218–225.JSTOR44170292.[...] l'intérêt que suscitent, pour la période où domine l'écriture majuscule (plus connue, en paléographie grecque, sus le nom d'onciale), les recherches de G. Cavallo, qui sont déjà concrétisées dans plusieurs publications importantes. Sans être moi-même spécialiste de l'étude de la majuscule, j'en ai beaucoup apprécié la portée méthodologique, que je voudrais souligner à l'intention des lecteurs deByzantion. [...] un des grands mérites de Cavallo [...] est d'avoir appliqué à l'étude de l'écriture grecque des concepts et des méthodes qui ont [...] renouvelé celle de l'écriture latine. Il n'est pas le premier à l'avoir fait, mais personne, avant lui, ne s'en était servi de manière aussi consciente et aussi systématique. (pp. 218f.)
