Italian estate owner and plant collector, Antonio Biondi was born and educated in Florence and although he never published any botanical works, he developed a rich personal herbarium from his own and others collections. During his studies he caught the attention of Filipo Parlatore, founder of the Central Italian Herbarium, who personally chose Biondi for his assistant in 1970. Although managing an estate was his primary employment, Biondi found time to tour much of Italy, particularly the regions of Piedmont, Tuscany, Calabria and Basilicata, and his expeditions yielded many rewards to enrich his growing herbarium. Another large part of this collection is a set of Chinese specimens he obtained from two Franciscan Fathers, Giuseppe Giraldi and Cipriano Silvestri, both of whom he had trained in the art of botanical collecting. The pair were missionaries working in southern China and the plants he received from them, along with his personal examples from Italy, were donated to the Central Herbarium in Florence (FI) between 1903 and 1920.

Sources:
P. Cuccuini and C. Nepi, 1999, Herbarium Centrale Italicum (the Phanerogamic Section): The Genesis and Structure of a Herbarium.