The J. Paul Getty Trust has appointed Francesca Casadio (born 1972 in Turin, Italy) as the new director of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, effective early autumn. Casadio, a chemist by training with a PhD from the University of Milan, began her career at the GCI in 2002 as a fellow and later spent over twenty years at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she rose to become Vice President and Grainger Executive Director of Conservation and Science and founded the Grainger Center for Conservation and Science.
This appointment matters because the GCI is one of the world's leading centers for cultural heritage conservation, research, and training. Casadio's expertise in non-invasive diagnostic techniques and her track record of interdisciplinary collaboration position her to advance the institute's global mission of preserving visual arts, museum collections, historic architecture, and archaeological sites. Her leadership signals a continued emphasis on integrating scientific innovation with conservation practice at a time when heritage protection faces growing environmental and institutional challenges.