PierLuigi Panza's New Book Reveals an Unknown Portrait of Piranesi

PierLuigi Panza, art and architecture critic for Il Corriere della Sera, has published a new book titled "Piranesi gli scritti" with Electa on November 30, 2023. The 288-page volume is a critical edition of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's writings, revealing a figure far removed from the romantic madman of the Carceri. Panza's research shows Piranesi as a virtuoso engraver, erudite polemicist, archaeologist, and architectural theorist who championed Etrusco-Italic art over Greek and Egyptian traditions. The book includes five major texts with annotations, highlighting Piranesi's role as a meticulous scholar rather than a pre-romantic visionary. Panza also discusses Piranesi's son Francesco, a complex figure who continued his father's workshop, sold marbles to Gustav III of Sweden (now in Stockholm), and later became a Bonapartist revolutionary in Rome and architecture professor in Paris. Panza notes that Piranesi's influence persists in contemporary artists like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami, filmmakers Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan, and architects like Zaha Hadid.