BUONAFEDE, APPIANO. – His real name was Tito Benvenuto; he was born at Comacchio on 4 January 1716 into an ancient and noble family, and at the age of eighteen entered the Celestine Order, assuming the name Appiano. From 1740 he was professor of Theology in Naples; subsequently, he was secretary of a monastery in Puglia, then abbot of the monasteries of S. Stefano (1755) and S. Giovanni Battista (1758) in Bologna, and later procurator of the Order in Rome; in 1777 he was elected general and settled on the Murrone; in 1780 he returned to Rome; he died on 17 December 1793.
A man of keen intellect and exceptionally broad culture, he took an active part in the controversies of his time and wrote, in a witty and elegant style, works of literary and philosophical criticism, as well as poetry (among which Versi liberi, Cesena 1766, should be remembered). One of his comedies in proparoxytonic verse, I filosofi fanciulli (printed in 1754 under the Arcadian name of Agatopisto Cromaziano), which ridicules the various philosophical systems in a Lucianic spirit, was criticized by Baretti in Frusta. Hence arose the celebrated controversy between the two eminent critics: B. launched Il Bue pedagogo against Baretti, provoking government persecution of his rival in the Venetian territories. The following works by B. are noteworthy: l'Istoria critica e filosofica del suicidio; the treatise Delle conquiste celebri esaminate col naturale diritto delle genti; Della Istoria e dell'indole di ogni filosofia (7 vols., Lucca 1766–81), which represents the first extensive history of philosophy to appear in Italy; Della restaurazione d'ogni filosofia nei secc. XVI, XVII e XVIII. The Ritratti poetici, storici, critici, published under the pseudonym of Appio Anneo De Baba Cromaziano, are in the Index, donec corrigatur (decree of 3 December 1754); each person is presented in a sonnet with a note; the style is coarse, the sarcasm excessive, and the philosophical ideas erroneous.