He was born in Fiume or Gorizia, though after the First World War his family moved to Florence, where he attended secondary school.
He graduated in literature from the University of Florence in 1934 alongside Guido Mazzoni and the following year began teaching in state schools.
He left the PdA in 1947 but maintained his liberal-socialist position and joined the 'Unità popolare' movement which eventually merged with the Italian Socialist Party in 1956.
Random discoveries among the Fondo's books and later systematic examination as the discovered pages and books were catalogued, led to the formation of a collection, [6] containing (for example) Francovich's private correspondence with scholars on issues and topics centred around Freemasonry and secret societies in the 18th and 19th centuries, various notes, editorial publicity material, invitations and letters of thanks from publishers.
He also donated another archive on the Italian Resistance and his studies of that period to the Istituto Storico Toscano della Resistenza e dell'Età contemporanea.