Francesco Ficoroni had no child but numerous nephews, between these we found Giuseppe Tonnone, who utilized the surname of his uncle to be nominated tax collector, which made his uncle furious.

Ficoroni studied with Ferdinando De Segnoribus, member by 1730 of Signature of Justice. His writings revealed a deep knowledge of latin – essential for an antiquarian – but towards the end of  his life he revealed to Gori that he did not understanding the Greek altough many of writings included in his publications were write in that language.

At the time in the court of Rome, literature was an intellectual pleasure. The noble families had divided all power and splendor among themselves: Ficoroni’s only hope was to bind himself to eminent patrons and cultivate a refined skill that could be learned, so to speak, from experience, of an “apprenticeship”.

Ficoroni was a student of Giovan Pietro Bellori. Bellori was one of the most prolific historians and antiquarians with Carlo Fea. The connection between Ficoroni and Bellori, was completely supported by the close relationships that Ficoroni had with Bartoli.

• In 1668, in his early twenties, Ficoroni entrusted himself to the service of Filippo Gualtieri, a Francophile and Anglophile, who was to become a cardinal in 1706. In 1688 he made a trip to Naples to purchase vases for Gualtieri’s collection.

• In 1689, Queen Christina of Sweden and Alexander VIII Ottoboni purchased its library. They delivered the nine hundred codes and manuscripts to the Vatican Library and the rest to their grandchildren. Ficoroni and Francesco Bianchini, both twenty-seven years old, had the task of putting his books in order. During this period, Ficoroni slept for three months in the Cancelleria palace. With the accession to the throne of Gianfranchi Albani as Clement XI in 1700, Ficoroni also entered the service of that family.

• In 1699 Ficoroni married Caterina Vanti, daughter of Pietro Paolo Vanti: she was 15 years old while he was around 37. They remained married for 33 years, until her death in 1733.

• Ficoroni acted as Cicero, in Rome, for several important personalities: the Duke of Shrewsbury – Charles Talbot – Sir Andrew Fontaine, Paul de Rapin de Throyas, the Duke of Norfolk, -Thomas Howard – the famous German jurist and statesman Johann Ebner von Eschenbach , the Duke of Saxony – Anyon Ulrich, the historian Conyer Middleton, Thomas Fritsch, member of the government of Frederick Christian of Saxony, the French ambassador Cardinal Melchior de Polignac and Nicholas Vleughels, director of the French Academy.

• In 1707 Ficoroni met the great Antonio Magliabechi, Leopoldo De’ Medici’s librarian: during their relationship, until Magliabechi’s death, Ficoroni managed to have many personalities who turned to him for tours of Rome visit the great library.

• In 1727 there was probably the most important archaeological discovery of Ficoroni’s life: the Colombario of  Liberto Livia on the Via appia.

• In 1730 Ficoroni published a list of things to see in Rome: Most singular memories of Rome and its vicinity.

• In 1733 the emperor Charles VI sent Ficoroni a diploma for his services to German visitors.

• In 1736, his nephew sent his son to Ficoroni to educate him in Latin, giving the antiquarian great satisfaction: Ficoroni wrote to Gori that, at only eight years old, the child had already learned many more things than he knew at 18 years.

• The object that made Ficoroni famous was found in Preneste in 1738 and is the cist that bears his name.

• Ficoroni died in 1747 and was buried next to his wife, in S. Francesco di Paola.

A curiosity, perhaps unknown to most, concerns an alleged portrait of Ficoroni: the work “Lezione di Gemme” by Pier Leone Ghezzi is exhibited in the Albertina Museum in Vienna: most likely, the figure identified as the teacher in the painting is Ficoroni himself, just compare, as done by Peter and Hilde Zazoff, the painting with the portrait of the Prince of antiquaries present in the Vatican library.