Flavio published three encyclopedic works that were systematic and documented guides to the ruins and topography of ancient Rome, for which he has been called one of the first archaeologists; subsequent antiquaries and historians built on the foundations laid down by Flavio and by his older contemporary, Poggio Bracciolini.
The second was the highly popular De Roma triumphante (Rome Triumphant, (1479)) about pagan Rome as a model for contemporary governmental and military reforms.