BORGHESE. – We find this family in Siena, where its members appear in the 13th century as jurists, civic officials, and orators. In the 15th century, AGOSTINO carried out missions to Venice and was created a count by Emperor Sigismund, with the right to include an eagle in the family coat of arms. The B. later held offices in Rome, until MARCANTONIO, to escape the civic disturbances, settled there permanently around the mid-16th century and brought his mother and sister to Rome in 1554. He gained great prestige, becoming dean of the consistorial advocates and defending Cardinal Morone when the latter was accused before the tribunal of the Inquisition (d. 1574). From his marriage to Flaminia Astalli were born five sons, of whom the third, CAMILLO, later became Pope Paul V, and two daughters, one of whom married into the house of Caffarelli. Of the brothers, ORAZIO died young; with Paul V, FRANCESCO was created general of the Holy Church and married Ortensia Santacroce; GIOVANNI BATTISTA became castellan of Castel Sant’Angelo and married Virginia Lante. From this marriage were born Marco ANTONIO, who married Camilla Orsini and became Prince of Sulmona and Grandee of Spain; this was the first step toward entry into princely nobility. Their son PAOLO in turn married Olimpia Aldobrandini, heiress of Gian Giorgio, and through this marriage the principality of Rossano in Calabria passed into the house of B. Meanwhile, Marco ANTONIO had purchased the fief of Palombara in 1637; other acquisitions later increased the family’s splendor, though it continued to have only limited influence in public life. Toward the end of the 18th century, another Marco ANTONIO married Marianna Salviati, and through her the Salviati estate passed into the house of B. Their sons were: CAMILLO (d. 1825), who married Paolina, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, and had no children; and FRANCESCO, who married Adèle Marie de La Rochefoucauld and, upon his brother’s death, assumed the title of Prince B. When the latter died in 1839, he stipulated that the eldest son, Marco ANTONIO, should continue to bear the name of B., CAMILLO should take that of Aldobrandini, and SCIPIONE that of Salviati. These three gentlemen contributed to upholding the dignity of the high Roman nobility through the events of the 19th century, with sincere devotion to the papal cause.
MARCANTONIO, who was born in Paris on 23 February 1814, had married there Guendalina Talbot of Shrewsbury, a woman of lofty spirit and great charity. He moved to Rome at the invitation of Gregory XVI and took an active part in civic life by founding popular schools, kindergartens, and contributing to the establishment of the savings bank and efforts at land reclamation. Deeply attached to Pius IX and his reforms, he was a conservative of Rome and deputy for Rome and Ronciglione; he followed Pius IX to Gaeta, while in Rome the revolutionaries took revenge by devastating his famous suburban villa and damaging his buildings. He proved to be a most beneficent lord and took an active part in the public life of the final decades of the Papal State. He died at Frascati on 6 October 1886.
His son PAOLO, born in Rome in 1845, promoted after 1871 the participation of Catholics in municipal life. In 1877, together with Marquis Baviera, C. L. Visconti, and Paolo di Campello, he founded the Unione romana, which played a significant role in the public life of Rome until 1919.
CAMILLO ALDOBRANDINI, born in Florence on 16 November 1816, was a colonel in the Civic Guard and minister of arms in the Antonelli cabinet in 1848, and later president of the Commission for the Universal Exhibition in London in 1862, to which the Pontifical government contributed. In 1867 he organized in the Palazzo Aldobrandini at Sant’Agata dei Goti the work of the Relief Committee for the wounded; and after 1870, at the invitation of the Unione romana dei cattolici, he participated in the councils of the province and the comune. He died in Rome on 5 June 1902.
SCIPIONE SALVIATI, born in Paris on 23 June 1823, married in 1849 Arabella Fitz-James. After 1870 he played a major role in the “Società per gli interessi cattolici” and, with his wife, founded the Bambino Gesù Hospital for the care of children, to which he continued to contribute. Today it is part of the pontifical charitable institutions. He died in Rome in July 1892.