Francesco Stelluti was born in Fabriano and was one of the closest friends of Federico Cesi (1585-1630) in the Lyncean Academy. Upon its momentary disbanding, Cesi's father urged Stelluti to go to the Farnese Court in Parma. The youth, just slightly older than the founder, was one of the guiding forces of the Academy. In 1610 he accompanied Cesi to Naples to secure Giovan Battista della Porta's (1535-1515) prestigious membership, and after being nominated Procurator General in 1612, he applied himself assiduously to seeing the Academy's publications through the press and their circulation in the scholarly community. His were the first observations made with Galileo's microscope, which went into the making of the Apiarium (Rome, 1625) and the Melissographia (Rome, 1625), and he edited the Tesoro messicano [Mexican Treasure] (Rome, 1651), which contained the immense documentation gathered in Mexico by the Spanish physician Francisco Hernandez (1514-1578) between 1570 and 1577.

Even after Prince Cesi's death, Francesco Stelluti was steadfast in preventing the heritage of the Lyncean Academy from being lost and remained especially close to his friend's widow.