ANGELO

FABBRONI (1732-1803)  , Italian ;biographer, was born at Marradi in Tuscany on the 25th of September 1732 . After studying at Faenza he entered the Roman college founded for the education of young Tuscans . On the conclusion of his studies he continued his stay in Rome, and having been introduced to the celebrated Jansenist Bottari, received from him the canonry of Santa Teresa in Trastevere . Some time after this he was chosen to preach a discourse in the pontifical chapel before Benedict XIV. and made such a favourable impression that the pontiff settled on him an annuity, with the possession of which Fabbroni was able to devote his whole time to study . He wasintimate with Leopold I., grand-duke of Tuscany, but the Jesuits disliked him on account of his Jansenist views . Besides his other literary labours he began at Pisa in 1771 a literary journal, which he continued till 1796 . About 1772 he made a journey to Paris, where he formed the acquaintance of Condorcet, Diderot, d'Alembert, Rousseau and most of the other eminent Frenchmen of the day . He also spent four months in London . He died at Pisa on the 22nd of September 18o3 . The following are his principal works:—Vitae Italorum doctrina excellentium qui saeculis X VII. et X VIII. floruerunt (20 vols., Pisa, 1778—1799, 1804—1805), the last two vols., published posthumously, contain a life of the author; Laurentii Medicei Magnifici Vita (2 vols., Pisa, 1784), a work which served as a basis for H . Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo dei Medici; Leonis X. pontificis maximi Vita (Pisa, 1797) ; and Elogi di Dante Alighieri, di Angelo Poliziano, di Lodovico Ariosto, e di Torq . Tasso (Parma, 1800) .