CHIEREGATO, LIONELLO. – Bishop and papal nuncio, son of Nicola C., born in Vicenza in the first half of the 15th century. Doctor of decrees, in February 1470 he was in the retinue of Cardinal Marco Barbo, Bishop of Vicenza; then in Rome, at the court of Paul II. On 8 January 1472 he was appointed Bishop of Arbe in Dalmatia and accompanied Barbo on his legation to Germany, but returned to Rome ahead of him (1473). On 14 January 1484 he was transferred to the see of Traù, and in the name of Barbo, Patriarch of Aquileia, he visited the diocese even in Friuli; finally, on 22 October 1488, he was transferred to the see of Concordia in eastern Veneto.
Meanwhile, Innocent VIII had appointed him nuncio to France to settle the political-religious controversies of that nation (November 1487), giving him as companion Antonio Flores, canon of Seville. From the letters of the Council of Concordia, one learns of the accusations against the abuses of ecclesiastics and particularly of religious, as well as the matter concerning Pico della Mirandola, who had taken refuge in France.
In 1490 he went to England to negotiate peace between that king and Charles VIII. On 29 September 1490, Chieregato, Jacob Lione, and France, along with his colleague, returned to Rome without having achieved much due to the dilatory measures of the French court. Chieregato also enjoyed the favor of Alexander VI, who tasked him with meeting with Charles VIII when he advanced toward Rome (December 1494) and the following year sent him as nuncio to Germany to Maximilian. He remained there until about the middle of 1499, when he returned to his see of Concordia, where in February 1505 he also held a synod, and there he died on 19 August 1506. A man of integrity and learning, Chieregato was perhaps not very fortunate as a nuncio. He was considered in his time an orator of great merit, and some of his occasional speeches were printed; he also delivered the ceremonial address for the marriage of Lucrezia Borgia to Giovanni Sforza.
Some of his dispatches and letters have also been printed.