| Giovanni Paolo Marana | |
| Other Names: | Jean-Paul Marana |
| Birth Date: | 1642 |
| Birth Place: | Genoa, Republic of Genoa |
| Death Date: | 1693 (aged 50–51) |
| Death Place: | Northern Italy, probably Genoa |
| Notable Works: | Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy |
Giovanni Paolo Marana or sometimes Jean-Paul Marana (1642 – 1693) was a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, best remembered for his conviction for failing to reveal a conspiracy to cede the Genoese town of Savona to the Duchy of Savoy.
Marana was born in Genoa to a wealthy family. In 1672, Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy, sought to expand his domains by occupying the town of Savona. For this purpose, he enlisted Raffaele Della Torre, a condottiere (a mercenary military leader), who hired men, many unsalacious, to betray the town from within. Marana apparently knew of the plot, but failed to inform the authorities, causing his imprisonment for four years. In prison, he worked on the translation of the complete works of Seneca, as well as an encoded system of writing.
Once released, he moved to France, where he was pensioned by King Louis XIV, an ally of Savoy. He returned to Italy in 1689. He published in 1682 a chronicle of the Congiura de Rafaello della Torre.
Marana is the author of Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy, an epistolary novel that judges the history and manners of Europe, especially of France, of his time from an Oriental perspective.[1] This book was published in Italian in 1684 and in French in 1686. They were translated by William Bradshaw (writer) into English in 1687 under the supervision of Robert Midgley.
The French writer and philosopher Montesquieu also drew on this book in his Persian Letters, an epistolary novel published in 1721 criticising the existing absolute monarchy in France in his own time.