CASONI, FILIPPO. – Cardinal, born 6 March 1733 at Sarzana, died 9 October 1811 at Rome. After completing his studies in Rome at the Collegio Nazareno, he became governor of Narni and of Loreto. During the revolutionary period he served as vice-legate of Avignon. The harsh winter of 1788, which had destroyed the harvest, led in March 1789 to a series of disturbances in Avignon that Casoni quelled by distributing grain free of charge.
Subsequently, however, the events in France also stirred the inhabitants of Avignon, and the vice-legate was forced to make certain concessions, such as the establishment of a National Guard, to calm the excitement of his subjects. Faced with the pressing demands of the reformers, Casoni tried to gain time, but without success. He had to accept the formation of new municipal councils whose actions reduced the papal sovereignty and the authority of the vice-legate in this territory of the Holy See to a mere shadow. Pius VI was deeply distressed by this state of affairs and sent an apostolic commissioner to stand beside the vice-legate in order to restore the old order. But the attempt at restoration failed, and on 11 June 1790 Casoni was obliged to leave Avignon.
He first retired to Carpentras, then to Chambéry, and finally to Rome. In May 1794 he was appointed nuncio to Madrid, where he remained until 1800. On 23 February 1801 Pius VII created him cardinal with the title of S. Maria degli Angeli alle Terme. In June 1806, after the resignation of Consalvi, who had incurred Napoleon’s displeasure, Casoni was named Secretary of State, but only briefly, for the elderly cardinal, already infirm, resigned from the ministry in March 1808.