andrea

piancastelli.

Art and Culture Translator

Hello, and welcome. My name is Andrea Piancastelli, and I translate from English, French and German to Italian in the fields of art, history and culture. I work on projects ranging from exhibition catalogues and scholarly texts to specialised websites and museum contents.

Art translations are my primary specialisation. With a Diploma in History of Art, and experience working at auction houses and heritage organisations, I come to art translation as a fully-trained art historian. Trained to read, write and research art history at an excelent level, I produce art translations as an insider, with the skills and subject knowledge to create art texts that read like authentic natural Italian art texts. For more information, please see the background section of this website.

To find out more, request a quote or discuss your translation project, contact me.

My Resume >

SERVICES.

Translation and Proofreading

Art history & humanities

history & archaeology

auction houses & fine art

paintings, collections, furniture, antiquary, Oenology and Rare Wines

tourism & hospitality

FASHION &

luxury goods

translation tools.

sdl trados

studio 2017

Matecat

The quality of specialized art translations relies on three primary elements: deep subject knowledge, mastery of and a ‘feel’ for the source language and exceptional writing skills in the target language. All three are at their best when supported by excellent reference materials, and I invest heavily to keep my office stocked with the top reference resources for my field. I have a collection of specialist dictionaries and, of course, a personal library of books on art history and related fields. In addition to these paper resources, I also use equivalent digital means such as online dictionaries, thesaurus and glossaries to complement my abilities.

omegat

Services

Translation Tools

Portfolio

About

background.

In addition to a solid command of the source language and excellent skills in the target language, specialist translations rely on deep subject knowledge. In this section, you will learn more about my specialist background, which I developed over a period of thirteen years as a student, cataloguer and researcher in academia, heritage foundations and the auction world, immediately prior to dedicating myself full-time to translation.

EDUCATION

My subject skills as an art translator are founded first and foremost on ten years of training in art history, history and archaeology. I have a BA in Ancient History specialising in Archaeology from Bologna University (2007), for which my major field was Ancient Roman and Greek Art and my minor fields were Mythology, Numismatics, Papirology, Egyptology, Etruscology and Medieval Art. I also have an Italian Diploma in Languages and Art History from St.Umiltà Lycée (2002), and I attended archaeology field work in the jungle of Belize for a Mayan workshop organised by the University of Indianapolis (2011). This involved digging, survey, drawing, laboratory, and lectures.

AUCTION HOUSES

After my graduate degree, I complemented my academic training with work experience at prestigious international auction houses.

In London, I worked at Sotheby's, in the department of 19th Century European Paintings, assisting with an exhibition dedicated to Donatella Versace's painting collection from her Lake of Como historic villa.

Always in London, I worked at Christie's, in both the departments of Wine and House Sales and Private Collections, where I was an assistant preparing the exhibition 'Les Trois Garçons': 380 lots collection from Chateau de la Goujonnerie, including clocks, 20th Century decorative arts, European ceramics and glass, furniture and works of art, Post-War and Contemporary art.

HERITAGE FOUNDATIONS

In London I assisted English Heritage Curatorial Department in researching, writing, proofreading and editing technical data sheets in preparation for publication of the Collections Online Project, a task which involved transferring all the information in the archive from paper to electronic format, later to display throughout the various English Heritage sites, as a source of information to visitors.

OTHER ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES AND PUBLICATIONS

I believe history is a vital part of our lives, and since 2012 I have been writing a blog (in Italian) based on this belief, with entries as diverse as The Brixton Mill and the remains of London’s agricultural past, The culinary secrets of Leonardo da Vinci, and Venice: water demonic and divine. I have been contacted by numerous people over the years who have found inspiration in the words that I wrote. Recent updates make the blog now also attractive to antiquary and rarities collectors.

Other:

- Etrurien und der Orient by Wilhelm Dorow, Johan and Levi, German-Italian translation from the original ancient text, 2020