In addition to composing an abundance of eccentrically titled sacred music, all of which remains in manuscript, he wrote a 25-volume history of ancient Greek colonies.
The principal source for information on Gnocchi's life is an unpublished manuscript written by his associate C. Cristoni, now in the Biblioteca Civica Queriniana in Brescia.
He uses double choirs in a homophonic texture, a style descended from the early Baroque Venetian School, rarely writing imitatively.
These interests show in the titles of his compositions, many of which are highly eccentric: a Magnificat, Il capo di buona speranza (The Cape of Good Hope), and masses named "Europe", "America", "Africa", and "Asia" are characteristic.
[citation needed] Something of a polymath, he wrote on various topics in history, geography, and archaeology in addition to composing music and performing his duties as a priest.