[1] Funded by his father, who held an important position in the Vatican Library, Colista early received an excellent musical education, probably at the Seminario Romano.
[1] In 1664, along with Bernardo Pasquini, he was part of the entourage of 200 that accompanied Cardinal Flavio Chigi on a diplomatic mission to the court of Louis XIV in Versailles.
[1] He wrote mostly instrumental music, and, though no pieces were published during his lifetime, his influence on the musicians residing in Rome and England was significant.
Arcangelo Corelli mentioned Colista in the preface to his Opus 1 as one of the più professori musici di Roma.
Michael Tilmouth calls Colista "undoubtedly the most important of the Italian models for Henry Purcell's trio sonatas",[1] "not only in terms of overall structure but also in the use of the term 'canzona' and in the nature and treatment, both contrapuntally and in regard to rhythmic modification of their thematic material.