Basilio Puoti was born into an old noble family which claimed descent from Adelchi, son of Desiderius.

He became the inspector general of public education for the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and then left that post to set up and teach in an Italian-language school in one of the palazzi in Naples in 1825.

He opposed all the "barbari" (barbarians) or Romantic poets except Alessandro Manzoni, whose nationalist sentiments he shared.

Puoti was instead a purist, more open regarding the Italian lexicon but advocating strict imitation of 15th and 16th century models when it came to style.

He translated Greek and Latin and was a member of the Accademia della Crusca.