Gianfranco Luzzetti
Biography of a maremmano collector
Gianfranco Luzzetti was born in Giuncarico, small town in the heart of the Maremma
toscana, in 1932. After being transferred to Grosseto, his parents' city of origin, he
stabilized at Rome, where he continues his studies and enters into contact with the
world of art, and then in Milan to complete the military service. After opening a small
shop of antiquaries in Via Morone in Milan, Luzzetti dedicated himself to paintings and
ancient sculture – becoming himself a passionate and competent collector – and moved the
business to the most prestigious place in the city: Via Montenapoleone.
From this moment on the relations between the antiquary and the directors of the major museums
of the world are met with those of the most famous intellectuals of the era. Organizes great
shows in all Italy (from the Palazzo Grassi to Venice in the Palazzo Reale of Milan) and
in the first century, now well known in international sphere, he transfers to Florence in
the twentieth century the Palazzo di Via Borgo San Jacopo, which represents the main site
of its new gallery and the “house–museum” where to put a very important private art collection.
In Tuscany's Capital, he contributes to the renewal of the Biennale Mostra Mercato di Palazzo
Strozzi and the rediscovery and revaluation, along with important historical of art – among
which Piero Bigongiari and Mina Gregori – of the so-called “Seicento Fiorentino”. After closing
his gallery, Luzzetti dedicates himself to editorial publishing of prestigious monographies
(to mention the one dedicated to Furini cured by the Prof.Cantelli) and to an ambitious project
of art and mecenatism that involve the city of origin, Grosseto: after having realized in
the Cassero senese, in 1996, a showcase of antiquarianism (“The Heritage Recognized”), Luzzetti
curates, in the Museo Archeologico and d'Arte della Maremma, five shows: “The Remains of
Luzzetti” of 1999, “Theatricality in the baroque of Florence” (2007), “The Beauty in Tuscany”
(2008), “The Signors of the Maremma” (2009) and “Religion and Beauty in Ludovico Cardi, the
Cigoli” (2012). In 2018 he donates to the city of Grosseto 64 works of ancient art for the
new “Museum collection Gianfranco Luzzetti” inaugurated in 2019 inside the Le Clarisse cultural
park of Grosseto.
Gianfranco Luzzetti dies in Florence in 2023.