Madeleine Cavalier

Madeleine Cavalier, also known in Italy by her nickname "signorina francese", born on June 27, 1928, is a French archaeologist and researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Throughout her long career, she focused primarily on the Aeolian Islands, conducting extensive excavations there.

Together with Luigi Bernabò Brea, a very close collaborator who was briefly her husband, she was responsible for the establishment of the Aeolian Archaeological Museum of Lipari.

Biography She was born on June 27, 1928, in Vacquières, Hérault. Despite not obtaining her baccalauréat, it didn't prevent her from pursuing studies at the University of Montpellier without obtaining a degree. She later directed the excavations of Milazzo in 1951–1952.

Subsequently, she was hired as a research associate at CNRS and, with the assistance of the French School of Athens and the French Institute of Lebanon, undertook a series of excavations in Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon, and Turkey.

The fruit of her research during this period in Greece focused on the relationships between prehistoric cultures in Greece and the Aeolian Islands. This work is detailed in an article dating back to 1960. The Aeolian Islands were actually the preferred subject of Madeleine Cavalier's study, and she devoted a significant part of her scientific output to them. It was one of the few non-food products transported in amphorae at the time.

She married her colleague Luigi Bernabò Brea for a season, but the marriage did not last. Nevertheless, the two continued to be close professional collaborators until Luigi Bernabo Brea's death.

In Italy, she earned the nickname "signorina francese" among the Italian population, meaning the 'French damsel', during her field research.

In 1985, she was awarded the CNRS Silver Medal for her research and academic work. She became a commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 12 April 1999 and was honored with the Order of Arts and Letters in 2007.

She also co-founded the Aeolian Archaeological Museum of Lipari with Luigi Bernabò Brea.

Legacy En 2003, Pierre Vidal-Naquet revisited her figure, crediting her as having been an "extraordinary woman" and connecting her to his own vocation as a historian.

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