This is further bolstered by the topics and settings of the majority of his operas, which unlike his contemporary Neapolitan writers, moved away from stories about Naples and its citizens.
More than half of his comedies are set in other Italian cities such as Rome, Pistoia, Pisa, and Antignano.
His most successful work was the intermezzo La contadina astuta (1734, now more well known as Livietta e Tracollo) with music by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.
However, critical assessment of Mariani's works consider his best comedic libretto Il baron della Trocciola (1736); a work based on Molière’s 1668 play George Dandin ou le Mari confondu.
[1] His only opera seria, Il castello d’Atlante,[1] was based on the epic poem Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto and premiered at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in 1734 with a cast led by Italian prima donna Maria Giustina Turcotti in the role of Alcina.