He was born in Florence on August 5, 1940. He graduated in Italian literature at his hometown University, for several years he has been a high school professor, then, he taught in several universities, such as those of Middlebury and Barcelona.
He became Professor, from 1985 to 1989 in Medieval History at the University of Bari and, since 1989, has been assigned to teach History of teaching at the University of Florence. In 1994, he won the Prize “Tiber” for History. He is currently professor of Medieval History at the University of Florence and, since 1997, has been a Member of the Consultative Committee of “Mystfest Cattolica” (FOR) and the Board of Directors of the “Ente Cinema SpA”. Franco Cardini wrote numerous grants for the third pages of newspapers “Il Giornale” and “Avvenire”.
Publications
Among his several books are:
Noi e l’Islam : un’ incontro possibile? (We and Islam: a meeting possible?), Laterza (1994)
Co-author of Il Cavallo pazzo (The crazy Horse), Giunti (1995)
Scheletri nell’armadio (Skeletons in the cabinet), collection of youth writings, Akropolis (1995)
Il Giardino d’inverno (The garden in winter), novel, Camunia (1996)
Le avventure di un povero crociato (The adventure of a poor crusader), novel, Mondadori
Articles about Tarots
La Fortuna, il Gioco, la Corte (Fortune, Game, and Court) in “Le Carte di Corte. I Tarocchi. Gioco e Magia alla Corte degli Estensi” (The Cards of Court. The Tarot. Game and Magic at the Este Court). Catalogue of the international exhibition on Tarot held in Ferrara at the Este Castle (1987)
I Tarocchi fra “Cultura di Corte” e “Cultura Popolare” (Tarot between the” Culture of the Court” and “Popular Culture”) in the section “Tarocchi: Gioco e Magia” (Tarot: Game and Magic), wise catalogue of the exhibition on tarot realized at the Civic Archaeological Museum in Bologna (1994).
He wrote the Introduction in Il Tarocchino di Bologna. Storia, Iconografia, Divinazione dal XV al XX secolo (The Tarocchino of Bologna. History, Iconography, Divination from the fifteenth to the twentieth century) by Andrea Vitali and Terry Zanetti (2005).
Preface to I Tarocchi: Storia, Arte, Magia. Dal XV al XX secolo (Tarots: History, Art, Magic. From the fifteenth to the twentieth century) by Andrea Vitali and Terry Zanetti, essay-catalogue of the exhibition presented at the Inquisitor’s Palace to Vittoriosa - Malta (2006)
Presentation at the work La Via del Sacro. I Simboli dei Tarocchi fra Oriente ed Occidente (The Sacred Way. The Symbols of the Tarot between East and West) by Gerardo Lonardoni (2008)