Giovanni Fontana Antonelli is an architect, regional planner, and cultural heritage strategist specializing in historic preservation, territorial development, and the conservation of cultural landscapes and historic urban environments.
Graduating from the University of Florence in 1994, his work has evolved at the intersection of architecture, cultural preservation, social development, and territorial sustainability.
Since joining UNESCO in 1998 as a Culture Programme Specialist, Giovanni has designed and managed more than fifty projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq — focusing on heritage preservation, museum development, cultural management, capacity building, and community-centered territorial strategies.
His work places particular emphasis on sustaining local communities through heritage preservation, recognizing culture not only as memory, but as a living framework for identity, resilience, and long-term development.
In 1997, he founded ARCHI.MEDIA, later becoming ARCHI.MEDIA TRUST-ONLUS, an organization dedicated to human settlements, cultural development, social justice, and human rights through education, communication, and territorial action.
Giovanni is also a consultant for the Heritage Commission under the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia, contributing to cultural heritage initiatives and strategic preservation programs within the Kingdom.
His internationally recognized projects include the advocacy planning for the protection of the agricultural dry-stone terraces and irrigation systems of Battir, awarded the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding of Cultural Landscapes in 2011. His project 'Reviving Earthen Architecture in the Jordan Valley' was nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in both 2013 and 2016.