Biography

Titoli dell’autore

di Laura Asor Rosa

dal Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani – Volume 47 (1997)

Francesco De Ficoroni was born in Lugnano, today Labico (Roma), in 1662, from parents Bonifacio and Maria Rosati. In his first book, Osservazioni di F. De’ F. sopra l’Antichità di Roma descritte in “Diario Italico” pubblished in Paris in 1702 by reverend father Bernardo de Montfaucon (Roma 1709), F. believed the unreliability of Montfaucon’s opera. He accused him of using ancient sources and modern sources which Montfaucon believed were unedited but were very well known. Francesco’s work started a debate that brought to Apologia del “Diario Italico” di padre Bernanrd of Montfaucon contra le osservazioni del sig. F. De’ F. written by Romualdo Riccobaldi (pseudonym of Paolo Alessandro Maffei) in 1710, in which F. was described as tourists scammer. Even more violent words are used by reverend father Giangrisostomo Scarfò in a letter sent directly to mister F. De’ F., from Lugnano in Lazio, who calls himself roman Antiquarian (Cosenza 1712). The controversy was ended by the intervention of congregazione dell’Indice, which on the day January 15th 1714 published a decree that allowed the republication of both books with the exclusion of the more offensive parts.

The most singular memoirs of Rome are dated 1730, published in 1734. After this first opera Francesco worked on many others: I tali ed altri strumenti lusorj degli antichi romani (Rome 1734); Le maschere sceniche e le figure comiche d’antichi romani (ibid. 1736); Arcus Trajano dedicatus Beneventi (ibid. 1739); Breve descrizione di tre particolari statue scopertesi in Roma l’anno 1739, in A. Calogerà, Raccolta d’opuscoli scientifici e filologici, XXII, Venice 1740, pp. 493-506; I piombi antichi (Rome 1740); Le vestigia e rarità di Roma antica (ibid. 1744); Le memorie ritrovate nel territorio della prima e seconda città di Labico (ibid. 1745).

After his death were published two translations in Latin of his works: Delarvis scenicis et figuris comicis antiquorum Romanorum (ibid. 1750), De plumbeis antiquorum numismatibus… dissertatio (ibid. 1750). And a study that was unedited: Gemmae antiquae litteratae, aliaeque rariores (ibid. 1757). J. C. Hirsch notes one unedited: Commentarium de numismatum raritate et pretio; while the manuscripts Sepulcra antiqua Romae inventa, Illustratio protomae Fulviae…,Descrizione dei monumenti antichi di Roma are now in Biblioteca Marucelliana in Florence.

Firma del Ficoroni risalente al 1702
Firma del Ficoroni risalente al 1746


Francesco Ficoroni had an extensive correspondence with intellectuals of the time, like L. A. Muratori, A. F. Gori and G. G. Amadei. In his letters he used to analyze artistical pieces he found in the already flourishing antiquarian market. He was particularly passionate about Latin inscriptions, he described them with punctual annotations, often using apograph material he already owned.

Firma del Ficoroni risalente ai suoi ultimi anni di vita


Form the analysis of his manuscripts it’s clear that Ficoroni had a great interest in studying ancient artifacts, but it’s also possible to learn some rare information about his private life. In two particular events, that could be dated between 1730 and 1732, he had a long series of troubles with the law. In the first case he bought a black marble head “which had a diamond in his mouth”. At the time, a decree forbids the buying and selling of antique objects. Ficoroni was then sentenced to house arrest, and he thought of himself as a victim of an unjust law. For this reason, in 1732, he asked Bologna’s archbishop – who will be the future pope Benedict XIV – to intervene but despite so the controversy only ended in 1735 because of the payment of a high fee. The same controversy happened again in 1735. In 1732 he was asked by Gioacchino Brighenti to sell a diamond ring for which the painter Ghezzi (probably Leone Ghezzi that illustrated F. in a caricatural manner in his opera Mondo novo) offered 600 scudi, but once he managed to get in the possession of the ring he refused to pay the price because he claimed the ring was previously his own and was stolen from him.

From the beginning of the thirties he suffered from a disease called torpor that forced him to the inability of the superior part of the body; his last letters were dated 1746 and sent to A.F. Gori, written by Francesco’s nephew Bernardino Ficoroni, who assisted him in his last years.

Bernardino himself wrote a letter to A.F. Gori, dated February 18th 1747, thanking him for the condolences Gori expressed in a letter after the passing of Ficoroni in January 25th 1747.


Francesco Ficoroni, before his death, donated his collection of antique lead seals to the Museum of Christians antiques, he donated the cista Ficoroni to the Kircherian Museum (nowadays is located in the Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia), found in Lugnano in 1738. His ripostiglio Bianchini is now located in Naples national Museum.

Sources and Bibl.: Bologna, Bibl. univ., Fondo Canterzani, 41862, LXII (lettere a G. G. Amadei); Ibid., 635, vol. V, 105 (lettera al card. P. Lambertini); Firenze, Bibl. Marucelliana, Carteggio Gori, A VI, 500 (iscr. sepolcrali inviate ad A. F. Gori); A XXXVIII, 1 (Illustratio protomae Fulviae uxoris Marci Antonii); A LXII e A LXXXVIII, 98, 111 (lettere ad A. F. Gori); A LXXXVIII, 112-114 (Descrizione dei monumenti antichi di Roma); A CCXIII 317 (Sepulcra antiqua Romae inventa); A CCLI 7 (diploma di Carlo V); A CCLII (lettere ad A. F. Gori); B VII 11 (lettere di B. de’ Ficoroni a A. F. Gori); Modena, Bibl. Estense, Archivio Muratoriano (già Soli Muratori), f. 64, fasc. 1 (lettere a L. A. Muratori); Ibid., Autografoteca Campori, s. v. F. Ficoroni; Bibl. apost. Vaticana, Borg. Lat. 503, ff. 89-90v (lettera a G. Pastrizio); Capp. 274, ff. 170-171 (lettera a A. G. Capponi); Capp. 275, ff. 15-20, 616, 617, 618v, 662-663 (corrispondenza F. Capponi); Capp. 276, p. 1, ff. 64, 136, 141: e Capp. 276, p. 2, f 316 (lettere a A. G. Capponi); Vat. Lat. 8221, ff. 21-30v (lettere a L. A. Muratori). Si veda, inoltre, O. J. Hirsch, Biblioteca numismatica, Norimberga 1760, p. 41; L. Ranghiasci, Bibliografia stor. delle città e luoghi dello Stato Pontificio, Roma 1792, p. 194; Biografia Universale antica e moderna…, XX, Venezia 1825, pp. 336-337; C. Justi, Phillip von Stoch und seine Zeit, in Lutzows Zeitschr. für bildende Kunst, VII (1872), p. 303; I. Carini, L’Arcadia, dal 1690 al 1890, I, Roma 1891, pp. 297-303; L. A. Muratori, Epistolario, a cura di M. Campori, Modena 1901-1922, VII, pp. 3123, 3141; VIII, pp. 3500, 3515, 3552; IX, pp. 4070, 4163, 4193; M. Maylender, Storia delle Accademie d’Italia, III, Bologna 1929, p. 221; S. Bertelli, Erudizione storica in L. A. Muratori, Napoli 1960, p. 74; T. Dohrn, Die Ficoronische Ciste in der Villa Giulia in Rom, Berlin 1972, pp. 7-8.