Listri. Cabinet Of Curiosities
Antonio Paolucci & Giulia Carciotto
Cabinets of curiosities fascinated people of the 16th and 17th centuries. From crocodiles, minerals, and corals to paintings, ivory trophies, measuring instruments, and incredible automata, it was a glimpse into a world full of natural wonders and treasures that aimed to reflect the order of the universe. This magnificent volume takes us through the world’s most beautiful collections, into the Medici treasury or the Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe) of Dresden, and offers no less than a brief cultural history of the miraculous.
Giulia ML Carciotto graduated in art history from the Sapienza University in Rome. She was a Research Fellow at the Warburg Institute in London, where she also worked for Christie’s. She was editor-in-chief of the art publisher Franco Maria Ricci Editore in Milan, and now teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo and at the Abadir Academy in Catania.
Antonio Paolucci studied art history under Roberto Longhi in Florence and began his career in the management of cultural heritage. He was the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage in Venice, Verona, and Mantua. He later became Director of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence and, for almost twenty years, the Superintendent for the Polo Museale Fiorentino. Most recently, Paolucci was the Director of the Vatican Museums from 2007 to 2016. A specialist in Italian Renaissance art, he is the author of museum and exhibition catalogues, as well as publications on Donatello, Piero della Francesca, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Benvenuto Cellini, among others.