BIANCHINI, FRANCESCO. — Born on 13 December 1662 in Verona, died on 2 March 1729 in Rome, where he went after studying in Bologna and Padua. Although he had only minor Orders, he obtained a canonry at S. Maria ad Martyres, then at S. Lorenzo in Damaso, and finally at S. Maria Maggiore, where he was buried. He illustrated the Camera ed iscrizioni sepolcrali della casa di Augusto discovered on the Via Appia (1727), and subsequently Il Palazzo de' Cesari in a large volume that, however, was published posthumously in Verona in 1738.
A man of broad and profound culture, in addition to studies on sacred and profane archaeology, he published various works concerning
history, chronology, mathematics, and astronomy. With regard to the latter, he traced that meridian line (gnomone clementino) still visible today in S. Maria degli Angeli, and in 1703–1704 published De kalendario et cyclo Caesaris ac de paschali canone s. Hippolyti martyris dissertationes duae.
Historical works: the 5 volumes of the Istoria universale provata con monumenti e figurata con simboli degli antichi, which went through several editions, and the 6 plates of the Demonstratio historiae ecclesiasticae quadripartitae comprobatae monumentis pertinentibus ad fidem temporum gestorum, completed and published in 1752 by his nephew Giuseppe. The latter also completed and published volume IV (1735) of the Liber Pontificalis, which B., following Panvinio, erroneously attributed to Anastasius Bibliotecarius. The first 3 volumes, published in Rome in 1718, 1723, and 1728, therefore bear the title Anastasii Bibliothecarii de gestis Romanorum Pontificum cum praefatione, prolegomenis, variantibus et notis historicis atque chronologicis... The text of the Lib. Pont. provided by B. was reproduced by Migne (PL. 127–28) through the life of Stephen VI inclusive.
In 1727 there appeared a work of an iconographic nature concerning the mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore: De sacris imaginibus musivi operis a s. Xisto Papa III post oecumenam Synodum Ephesinam in Basilica Liberiana constructis et de dominicae nativitatis praesepi ac venerabilibus cuiis infantiae Christi Domini ibique custoditis dissertationes duae.