FLAVIO BIONDO. — Humanist and archaeologist, born in Forlì in 1392, died in Rome on 4 June 1463 (he later added a second name, Latinizing the first).
He studied in his native city, where he remained until 1423, when he was driven out by factional strife. In 1434 he became Apostolic Secretary to Eugenius IV, but having fallen into disfavour with Nicholas V, he wandered for a long time throughout Italy.
Flavio Biondo - Passage from a letter addressed to Gregorio Lolli Piccolomini, 12 Sept. 1461 - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. Lat. 6284, f. 71
In the *De verbis romanae locutionis* (1435) he argued against Leonardo Bruni that Italian is the natural continuation of ancient Latin; with the *Historiae ab inclinatione romanorum* (1438–53) he provided the first organic history of the Middle Ages; *Italia illustrata* (from the Alps to Salerno, 1453) is a systematic description of his homeland, combining classical data with contemporary material (topography and biography); in *Roma triumphans* (1457–59) he produced a treatise on the public and private institutions of ancient Rome, often comparing them with contemporary ones. *Roma instaurata* (1444–46) is the first treatise on the topography of ancient Rome, covering both classical and medieval periods, including Christian sites: “basilicas quoque, templa et sacra, quas vocamus ecclesias, loca per quos pontifices vel alios christianos vel fundatae primo vel auctae vel fuerint instauratae ostendam.” His work is indeed rich in information and of considerable merit, but of little use to modern scholars, since almost all the sources he drew upon are still available to us.