Francesca Mattei is an associate professor of architectural history at the Roma Tre University. Her research focuses on early modern architecture, architectural drawings and treatises, and the relationship between literary scholarship, antiquarianism, and architectural culture. She has dedicated several studies to the Gonzaga family and the work of Giulio Romano. Her publications include the monograph Architettura e committenza intorno ai Gonzaga 1510-1560, published by Campisano (Rome) in 2019, and the co-edited volume, with Emanuela Garofalo, I Gonzaga fuori Mantova (Viella, Rome 2022).
Roberta Piccinelli is a curator at the Civic Museums of Mantua and co-director of the “Isabella d’Este Archives” (IDEA) project at the University of California, Irvine. A member of the National Virgilian Academy, she focuses on topics concerning painting and the history of collecting in Mantua in the 16th and 17th centuries. She has authored numerous publications, including a monograph on the Gonzaga Nevers titled Collezionismo a corte. I Gonzaga Nevers e la “superbissima galeria” di Mantova (1637 -1709) (Edifir, Florence 2010), and one on Palazzo Te, I Giganti (Skira, Milan 2021). She also curated Itinera chartarum. 150 anni dell’Archivio di Stato di Mantova (Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2019). Her primary fields of study are the collecting and artistic patronage of the Gonzaga family and the strategies of cultural and social policy in 17th-century Mantua.
