Sienese documentary art historian, editor of the the definitive Vasari Lives edition, founder of modern Italian scholarship of the Italian renaissance. Milanesi studied law, but never completed a degree. Instead, his talents at discerning Italian scripts and handwriting led him to the Biblioteca Comunale at Siena and the sources pertaining to art history. He set about transcribing and publishing with Lorenzo Ilari, an index to this collection, a project which he worked on throughout his life. In 1842 Milanesi joined the periodical L'Antologia, founded in 1821.