Francesco Albertini

Who was Francesco Albertini?

Francesco Albertini was a canon of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence and a chaplain of Cardinal Fazio Santoro in Rome. In 1510 he wrote three books: The Opusculum de mirabilibus novae & veteris urbis Romae, the Septem mirabilia orbis et urbis Romae et Florentinae and the Memoriale di molte picture e statue sono nella inclyta cipta di Florentia.

Opusculum de mirabilibus novae & veteris urbis Romae was "the most popular guide to Ancient Rome in the sixteenth century". Albertini presented it as the new and updated Mirabilia "shorn of its fables and nonsense", and included a substantial description of the reconstruction of Rome started by Pope Sixtus IV.

Memoriale di molte picture e statue sono nella inclyta cipta di Florentia is generally considered the first guidebook of Florence. According to Klein and Zerner, it is "a superficial and rather poor piece of writing" of dubious factual value, but it stands out as a monument of artistic spirit, pride and self-consciousness of Florentine people. However, De Boer shows that Albertini made few attributional mistakes and the book, albeit concise, is one of the most valuable sources about Florentine art prior to Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists.