Bacchini was born on 31 August 1651, at Borgo San Donnino, in the Duchy of Parma.

Having become secretary of the abbot of St. Benedict of Ferrara, he accompanied him to Venice, Piacenza, Parma, and Padua, and was known among the celebrated literati of the time.

After some journeys in the interests of science, he refused the offers of cardinal Aguirre, who wished to retain him at Rome, and was appointed Prefect of the Estense Library.

A renowned scholar, Bacchini he was a friend of Jean Mabillon, Bernard de Montfaucon, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and influenced Ludovico Antonio Muratori and Scipione Maffei.

[1] His edition of Andreas Agnellus' Liber Pontificalis (1708) was republished by Muratori in the second volume of his Rerum italicarum scriptores (reprinted in P.L.