BRASCHI, family. - Disregarding the supposed origins attributed to it, one may consider that it derived from northern Italy, from where a certain Captain Francesco came to Romagna; his son was captain of Cesena in 1471.
The Braschi of Tavernelle must be distinguished from those of Servi, so designated by the districts in which they lived. The second branch, for which there are documents concerning an Andrea living in 1548, included the family of Giovanni Angelo, later Pope Pius VI. To prevent the extinction of this line, he called upon the sons of his sister Giulia Francesca, who was married to Count Girolamo Onesti, to continue II.
The eldest of these, Luigi, came to Rome in November 1779, when preparations were already underway for his marriage to Costanza Falconieri, which was indeed contracted; in July 1781 he purchased a fine estate at Terracina and was in negotiations for the acquisition of Nemi from the Frangipani family.
On 8 February 1783, Gaetano Marini wrote to his friend Fantuzzi, bitterly recalling the very rich gifts that Costanza B. had received from the court of France and those she expected from the court of Spain: "Thus the coffers of this family will always be open to the generosity of men, and it will become one of the principal families of the country at a time when the Popes can do so little" (p. 227). In January 1785, B. received from the court of Turin the cross of St. Maurice with a pension of 2,000 scudi (p. 259); in December 1786, "he was declared Duke of Nemi and Grandee of Spain of the First Class" (p. 283); in February 1788 he was appointed senator of Bologna; he had a share in the Lepri donation, which gave rise to much discussion in those years. On 30 April 1788, Marini wrote: "Duke B. is truly marvellous in his taking, and he will be so as long as God wills; there is no one who can boast of having received a substantial gift from him, and you may say the same of all his kin" (p. 302).
On 3 February 1791, construction began on the grand family palace, designed by the architect Cosimo Marelli of Imola, who demolished the palace of Prince Caracciolo of S. Buono at Parione; but Duke B., who had become unpopular because of certain speculations, ran the risk of losing his life at the time of the French invasion. In a letter of 12 February 1797, Pius VI entrusted B. together with Cardinal Mattei, Monsignor Caleppi, and Marquis Camillo Massimi with negotiating peace with Napoleon, who had occupied the Legations. The very onerous treaty was signed by them at Tolentino on the 19th; but the Braschi family suffered greatly in its assets from the French occupation under General Berthier. It may have been for this reason that when Napoleon, as Emperor, in 1809 made Rome an imperial city, taking it from the Pope, B. accepted the new order and became mayor of Rome.
With the return of Pius VII in 1814, he was pardoned like many others; he died in Rome itself on 9 February 1816.
Romualdo, Luigi’s younger brother, born in 1753, was summoned to Rome, where, having become his uncle’s majordomo in 1780, he was created cardinal deacon of S. Nicola in Carcere on 18 December 1786 and was much celebrated for this. Marini announced a forthcoming consistory "perhaps to open the mouth of the nephew, after which consider how much he will eat, having eaten so much and eating with his mouth shut"; he added, however: "This new cardinal is fundamentally very good and universally loved" (p. 285). He took part in the conclave at Venice after his uncle’s death; he was transferred to the deaconry of S. Maria in the Pantheon on 3 April 1800; he became secretary of the Briefs and camerlengo, and was also grand prior of the Order of Malta and archpriest of the Vatican basilica; he accompanied Pius VII to Paris in November 1804; in February 1809 he was forced to leave Rome by order of Napoleon; he returned with the Restoration and died there on 30 April 1817. He was buried in the Vatican grottoes.