Chigi-Albani
Encyclopedia
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
princely family of Sienese
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
extraction descended from the count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
s of Ardenghesca, which possessed castles in the Maremma
Maremma
The Maremma is a vast area in Italy bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea, consisting of part of south-western Tuscany - Maremma Livornese and Maremma Grossetana , and part of northern Lazio - Maremma Laziale .The poet Dante Alighieri in his Divina Commedia places the...
, southern Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
. The earliest authentic mention of them is in the 13th century, with one Alemanno, counsellor of the Republic of Siena.
The first very prominent member was Mariano (1439–1504), a banker and two times ambassador of Siena to the Popes Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
and Julius II
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
. He founded the Roman branch of the family, the other branch was started by his brother, Benedetto.
Agostino Chigi
Agostino Chigi
Agostino Andrea Chigi was an Italian banker and patron of the Renaissance.Born in Siena, he was the son of the prominent banker Mariano Chigi, a member of an ancient and illustrious house. He moved to Rome around 1487, collaborating with his father...
(1465–1520) was the most famous member of the family during the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. He became an immensely rich banker, and built the palace and gardens afterwards known as the Farnesina
Farnesina
- Architecture :* Casa della Farnesina, an historic building of the ancient Rome, in the neighborhood of Trastevere, Rome.* Palazzo della Farnesina, the headquarters of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of the Republic of Italy....
, decorated by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, and was noted for the splendour of his entertainments. Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
made him practically his finance minister and gave him the privilege of quartering his own (Della Rovere
Della Rovere
Della Rovere is a noble family of Italy. Coming from modest beginnings in Savona, Liguria, the family rose to prominence through nepotism and ambitious marriages arranged by two Della Rovere popes, Francesco della Rovere, who ruled as Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Giuliano...
) arms with those of the Chigi.
Cardinal Fabio Chigi, on being elected pope (Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII , born Fabio Chigi, was Pope from 7 April 1655, until his death.- Early life :Born in Siena, a member of the illustrious banking family of Chigi and a great-nephew of Pope Paul V , he was privately tutored and eventually received doctorates of philosophy, law, and theology from...
) at the Conclave of 1655, conferred the Roman patriciate on his family. His brother Mario continued the branch of the family in Siena. His brother Augusto continued the line in Rome. Augosto's son Agostino was created by emperor Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
Reichsfurst (prince of the Holy Roman Empire) in 1659. Agostino married Maria Virginia Borghese (relative of the Borghese pope), and acquired the principates of Farnese (1658), Campagnano (1661) and Ariccia
Ariccia
Ariccia is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, central Italy. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs...
, where a famous palazzo bearing the family name still exists. The pope also had two nephews who became cardinals, Flavio I, who was one of the main art collectors of the family and built the Villa Cetinale
Villa Cetinale
Villa Cetinale is a 17th century villa in Tuscany, Italy, located in the hamlet of Cetinale near Sovicille and about 12 km west of Siena....
in 1680, and Sigismondo.
In 1712, Prince Augusto, son of Prince Agostino, received the dignity of hereditary marshals of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and guardians of the conclave
Papal conclave
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishop of Rome, who then becomes the Pope during a period of vacancy in the papal office. The Pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church...
s, which gave them a prominent ceremonial importance on the death of every pope. During the 18th century, Flavio II
Flavio Chigi
thumb|Cardinal Flavio ChigiFlavio Chigi , Prince of Farnese, Duke of Ariccia and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal...
became cardinal. In the 19th century, Flavio III, brother of Prince Sigismondo Chigi, became cardinal and Nuncio to France.
On the marriage in 1735 of another Agostino Chigi (1710–1769) with Giulia Albani, heiress of the Albani
Albani (family)
The Albani were an aristocratic Roman family, members of which attained the highest dignities in the Roman Catholic Church, one, Clement XI, having been Pope. They were Albanians who originally moved to Urbino from the region of Malësi e Madhe in Albania...
, a Venetian patrician family, said to be of Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
origin, her name was added to that of Chigi.
Prince Sigismondo Chigi Albano della Rovere (August 24, 1798-May 10, 1877), Prince of Campagnano, had a son, Don Mario Chigi, and four daughters (Teresa, who married Giulio, Duca di Torlonia; Maria, who married Prince Giuseppe Giovanelli; Angiola, who married Conte Fabio Bonaccorsi; and Virginia, who married Marchese Galeazzo Guidi). Prince Sigismondo's brother, Flavio III (1810–1885), became a Cardinal on December 22, 1873 with the title of Santa Maria del Popolo; he had been Nuncio to France in the 1860s.
Prince Mario Chigi Albano della Rovere succeeded his father in 1877 and served as Marshal of the Holy Roman Church at the Conclave of 1878. He married Antonietta, the daughter of Prince Louis of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1857. They had three children, Agostino, Ludovico (Luigi) and Eleonora.
Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere (July 10, 1866–November 14, 1951), son of Prince Mario and Antoinette, was Grand Master of the Knights of Malta from 1931 to 1951. In 1893 he married Donna Anna Aldobrandini, Princess of Sarsina; they had three children, Sigismondo, Petro and Laura. Prince Ludovico was Marshal of both the conclave of 1922 and that of 1939.
Prince Sigismondo Chigi (1894–1982), Hereditary Marshal of the Holy Roman Church, was the son of Prince Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere (1866–1951) and Donna Anna Aldobrandini, princess of Sarsina. He had one son, Don Agostino Chigi Albani della Rovere (1929–2002) and one daughter, Princess Francesca. He was the Marshal of the Conclave both in 1958 and 1963. The office, to which the Chigi had succeeded after the extinction of the Savelli in 1712, was abolished by Pope Paul VI in a motu proprio, Pontificalis Domus
Pontificalis Domus
The apostolic letter motu proprio Pontificalis Domus was issued by Pope Paul VI on March 28, 1968, in the fifth year of his pontificate. Its purpose was the reorganization of the Papal Household, which had been known as the Papal Court before the promulgation of the letter.-Introduction:Paul VI...
, of March 28, 1968.
The family owns large estates at Siena. The family palace
Palazzo Chigi
The Palazzo Chigi is a palace or noble residence in Rome, overlooking the Piazza Colonna and the Via del Corso. It was begun in 1562 by Giacomo della Porta and completed by Carlo Maderno in 1580 for the Aldobrandini family. In 1659 it was purchased by the Chigi family. It was then remodelled by...
on the Via del Corso
Via del Corso
The Via del Corso , commonly known as the Corso, is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is remarkable for being absolutely straight in an area characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(not to be confused with the other Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia), is currently seat of the Italian government. The family's mausoleum is in the Chigi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, the work of Raphael and Gianlorenzo Bernini.
The princely family is represented by Prince Mario Chigi, Prince Chigi Albani della Rovere (b. 1929), whose heir is Prince Flavio Chigi Albani della Rovere (b. 1975)