APPENDINI, FRANCESCO. - Born at Poirino in Piedmont on 6 Nov. 1769. Piarist on 15 Apr. 1787. Sent while still very young to Ragusa, he made that city his second homeland, which he honoured by his virtues and works, together with his brother Urbano, also a Piarist. One of A.'s most notable merits was having promoted Slavic scholarship and literature, hitherto greatly neglected. In 1802 he published the Notizie istorico-critiche sulle antichità storia e letteratura de' Ragusei, a valuable work which, apart from certain flaws arising from the period in which it was written, is and will remain one of the few sources for the literary history of that city. He also compiled an Illyrian grammar and promoted the Italian translation and reprinting of our classics. He corresponded with distinguished scholars of Illyrian literature, such as Kopitar, Schaffarik, and Muller.
When the republic fell into the hands of the French in 1808, he succeeded in winning the friendship of General Marmont, the governor, and in obtaining benefits for his Order. He wrote many biographies of illustrious men of Ragusa, the Memorie concerning some distinguished men of Cattaro (Ragusa, 1811), the critical examination of the question concerning the homeland of a. Girolamo (Zara, 1833), and an interesting unpublished study on Petrarca.
After the death of his brother Urbano, director of studies in Dalmatia, residing at Zara, he assumed that office by order of the Austrian government, but shortly afterwards died on 30 Jan. 1837.