AFFAITATI, ANTONIO MARIA. — Capuchin writer, born Casimiro, of a noble Cremonese family, born in 1660 in Albogasio, died in Milan on 26 April 1721. He entered the Lombard Capuchins at the age of sixteen (*1676*). Of austere life and most humble, he shunned every office.
For fifteen continuous years he assisted those condemned to death, and, as a fruit of this ministry, left the golden pamphlet *Il caritativo assistente in pratica. Metodo per confortare ed aiutare i condannati a morte ad un felice passaggio*, etc. Milan 1719. Archivist of his province, he composed *Fiori istorici, ovvero compendio di erudizione virtuosa, e fatti illustri di uomini grandi antichi e moderni, sacri e profani, e loro detti memorabili*, etc., Milan 1711, 2nd ed. 1737; *Memoriale catechistico esposto alle religiose claustrali di qualunque ordine*, Milan 1716, 2nd ed. 1739. His most celebrated work is an erudite treatise on agriculture,
which, in many successive editions, was augmented by the author with new studies and arguments. Published in Milan in 1710, in the 1711 edition (greatly enlarged) it bears the title: *Il semplice ortolano in villa, e l’accurato giardiniere in città. Regole pratiche e fondate su l’esperienza di vecchi ortolani per coltivare qualunque sorta di erbaggi, per propagare, innestare piante, viti, ecc.*, Milan 1711.