Giorgio Bretschneider was born in 1920 in Rome, where he lived during all of his life, except for the years of the war.
In 1947 he took over from his father, Max Bretschneider, and specialized in the Greek and Roman period, without taking in consideration other periods so as to seize the ancient world's aspects as a whole. Since the beginning (1948) he entered many deals as a publisher with relevant international authors.