Vatican Museums

Writer, literary and art critic, journalist, and director, Leone Piccioni (Turin 1925 – Rome 2018) was one of the most important Italian intellectuals of the twentieth century. The prolific cultural background and his dense network of friendships and collaborations gave rise to a prestigious art collection, largely originated by his direct connections with the artists. In 2024 Gloria and Giovanni Piccioni, the writer’s children and heirs, decided to donate a valuable core group of 25 works from their father’s collection to the Vatican Museums.

This catalogue was realized in the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to Leone Piccioni, which coincides with the centenary of his birth and the acquisition of the new donation into the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. It consists of two main sections: the first one focuses on the essays written by prominent authors, shedding light on both the collection and the figure and work of Leone Piccioni; the second section includes the historical-critical sheets of each piece in the collection.