Pietro Giannone. Autobiography. The Tragedy of a Historian and the Inquisition: Translated with commentary by Thérèse Ridley

Abstract

This volume is the first English translation of 'Vita di Pietro Giannone scritta da lui medesimo', a powerful autobiographical account penned under the direst conditions—by a man persecuted, imprisoned, and ultimately destroyed by the Inquisition. Written on scraps of paper during his long incarceration, Giannone’s 'Vita' is a masterpiece of Enlightenment literature, detailing the meteoric rise of a most eminent eighteenth-century historian and jurist, and his descent into suffering for his unyielding commitment to reason, justice, and historical truth.This edition, translated and annotated by Therese Ridley, not only renders the full autobiography accessible to English readers for the first time, but contextualizes it within modern Italian scholarship. Each chapter is enriched with appendices that include critical sources, commentary, and related correspondence, illuminating the people, events, and philosophical struggles that defined Giannone’s world.Foreshadowing the prison writings of Silvio Pellico and Antonio Gramsci, Giannone’s Vita stands as both a literary achievement and a searing indictment of religious and political repression. This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the Enlightenment, Italian history, or the enduring power of the written word under persecution.