In 1940 he received a degree in history of medieval and modern art from Sapienza university, disputing his thesis with Pietro Toesca on the cinquecento Bolognese painter Tibaldi.
In 1940 he sat on the editorial committee of the magazine, together with Mario Alicata, Antonello Trombadori, Guglielmo Petroni and Carlo Muscetta, contributing various pieces until 1941.
This weekly, a precursor of “L’Espresso”, published work by many of twentieth century Italy’s foremost intellectuals: as well as Briganti himself these included Carlo Lizzani, Michelangelo Antonioni, Enzo Forcella, Giorgio Bassani, Renato Guttuso, Roberto Longhi, Anna Banti, Guido Carli, Arrigo Benedetti and Gastone Manacorda.
From 1965 to 1968 he wrote a weekly art column for L'espresso, a position formerly held by Lionello Venturi and Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti.
From 1950, with Francesco Arcangeli, Ferdinando Bologna and Federico Zeri, he was on the editorial board of the new magazine Paragone Arte, founded by Roberto Longhi, which until 1961 published important essays by Briganti on seventeenth century Italian painting.