Originally a classicist, he became a student of
Angelo Segrè at the
University of Catania, then attended the
University of Freiburg, where he studied the philosophy of
Husserl and attended the lectures of
Heidegger and
Oskar Becker. Eventually he focused on the work of Fritz Prinsheim which was concentrated on the
contract of sale in ancient times. Had he known that in the hands of
Kenneth Kitchen the sequence of blessings and curses in ancient contracts was eventually to become one of the most important dating tools of modern archaeology, Stecchini might not have focused on the clauses relating to measures. As it happened it was this focus that led
Otto Lenel to allow him to read a paper on the length of miles in the
Syro-Roman Law Book. After the Freiburg group was disbanded by Hitler he returned to Italy where he received a doctorate in the field of Roman Law. He became assistant to the chair of history of Roman Law at the
University of Rome and a member of the Institute of Roman and Oriental Law of that University where he was influenced by
Edoardo Volterra holder of the chair of Oriental Law there. He fled the Fascist regimes of Europe to the United States and worked for a doctorate in Ancient History at
Harvard under
Werner Jaeger. Jaeger suggested that he write his thesis on the concept of
akribea or precision in Greek thought. His Ph.D. dissertation from 1946 was entitled "On the Origin of Money in Greece". From there, he went to the study of Greek monetary weights, the operation of Greek mints and the dimensions of Greek temples. From there he turned to the study of ancient geography and geodesy. His knowledge was specialized in agrarian measures in
cuneiform tablets, rates of money exchange in Greek tablets, and the volume of jars in Egyptian papyri, cited in major periodicals such as
Classical Philology. He also wrote more general works, some subsequently republished, such as his analysis of
Herodotus in "The Persian Wars" ==Controversy==