FORNAINI, Luigi Antonio. – Vallombrosan abbot, born on 14 December 1756 at Massa Cozzile, died on 29 June 1838 at Florence. He was a pupil of Leto Guidi. After ordination he became administrator of the Vallombrosa abbey, where he became renowned for his agricultural and forestry studies. When the monks were expelled by Napoleon, he remained alone to oversee the forests which had become state property.
Besides the work *Dei doveri dei sudditi verso il Principe e del Principe verso i sudditi* (Florence 1815), he left the treatise *Della coltivazione degli abeti* (ibid. 1804) and an *Essay on the utility of preserving and safeguarding forests* (ibid. 1825), still of pressing relevance.
BIBL.: A. Pavarri, D. L. A. F., in *Il Faggio vallombrosano*, July-August 1938; E. Lucchesi, *Un’antica cultura di boschi e foreste: l’ab. d. L. A. F.*, in *Atti della Soc. Colombaria fiorentina*, Florence 1938-39.