ALCIATI, FRANCESCO. – Cardinal, born in Milan in 1522, died in Rome in 1580. Nephew and heir of the famous jurist Andrea, he was his disciple and then his successor at the University of Pavia. There he had among his pupils s. Carlo Borromeo, and this encounter led to his going to Rome, where the saint’s uncle, having become pope under the name of Pius IV, appointed him datary of the Apostolic Chancery in 1561, bishop of Civita, and then substitute for the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church in 1564. The following year, he created him a cardinal. Extremely learned in legal studies, he was also praised by his contemporaries as a man of letters. Vettori and Mureto remember him as one of the century’s greatest ornaments. He left several works in manuscript.
BIBL. Ciconius-Oldoinus, Vitae et res gestae pontificum romanorum et S. R. E. cardinalium, III, Roma 1667, pp. 972-973; Mazzucelli, I, pp. 372-73.