CASONI, FILIPPO. — Cardinal, born on 6 March 1733 in Sarzana, died on 9 October 1811 in Rome. Having completed his studies in Rome, at the Nazareno College, he became governor of Narni and Loreto. During the revolutionary period he was vice-legate of Avignon. The harsh winter of 1788, which had destroyed the harvest, led in March 1789 to a series of uprisings in the Avignonese region, which C. succeeded in suppressing through free distributions of grain.
Subsequently, however, the French events also had repercussions among the inhabitants of Avignon, and the vice-legate was compelled to make certain concessions, such as the establishment of the national guard, in order to calm the discontent of his subjects. Faced with the reformers’ urgent demands, C. attempted to gain time, but did not succeed. He had to accept the establishment of new municipal councils, whose actions reduced papal sovereignty and the authority of the vice-legate in this domain of the Holy See to a mere shadow. Pius VI was painfully affected by this state of affairs and sent an apostolic commissioner to assist the vice-legate, in order to restore the former order. But the attempt at restoration failed, and on 11 June 1790 C. had to leave Avignon.
He withdrew first 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 of the title of S. Maria degli Angeli delle Terme. In June 1806, following the resignation of Consalvi, who had become unwelcome to Napoleon, he was appointed Secretary of State, but only briefly, since the ailing cardinal, then over seventy years old, resigned the ministry as early as March 1808.