Federico Melis was born on August 14th, 1914 in Florence and there he died on December 26th, 1973.
He studied Economy and Commerce at the University of Rome and he graduated with a first-class honours degree in 1939. He was immediately appointed assistant lecturer of the Accountancy chair of the same University with a specialization in History of Accountancy. After the war he resumed studying, completely devoted to his academic activity.
Untill 1948-49 he remained at the Faculty of Economy and Commerce of the University of Rome, where he became lecturer in 1948. In the same University, besides his courses of History of Accountancy, he carried out the courses of General and Applied Accountancy for veterans, as a substitute for the professor.
From 1949-50 he taught Economic History at the Faculty of Economy and Commerce of the University of Pisa and, from 1952, he also taught History of Economic Doctrines.
From 1953 to 1957, contemporary with his activity in Pisa, he was lecturer of Economic History and Economic Geography at the just instituted Faculty of Economy and Commerce of the Cagliari University.
In 1957 he won the competitive examination for professor and he had confirmed the chair at the University of Pisa where, from 1959, he was called to be a member of the Board of Directors and, from 1962, he became Dean of his Faculty.
In 1963 he became professor of Economic History at the University of Florence (where he remained untill his death) keeping the chair of the same teaching at the University of Pisa up to 1970.
In 1968 he founded the Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F.Datini” with the immediate support of Fernand Braudel and the collaboration of a group of important scholars, who formed the first Scientific Committee.
Honoris causa doctorates conferred on him:
- Philosophy and Letters, University of Lovanio, 1967
- Letters and Human Sciences, University of Rennes, 1970
- Philosophy and Letters, University of Valladolid, 1970
- Letters and Human Sciences, University of Reims, 1972
- Letters and History, University of Varsavia, 1973
- Letters and Human Sciences, University of Paris (Sorbonne), 1973