GRAVINA, PIETRO. — Cardinal, born on 16 December 1749 at Monte Vago (diocese of Girgenti), died on 6 December 1830 at Palermo. He studied with the Theatines in Palermo and at the Collegio Clementino in Rome, and attended the Ecclesiastical Academy. Referendary of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and of the Tribunal of the Grace, he governed Città di Castello, Spoleto, Jesi, Fano, and Ancona.
Appointed titular archbishop of Nicaea by Pius VI on 12 September 1794, he was sent as nuncio to Lucerne, and then, in 1802, to Madrid. In 1812 he declared illegal the provisions of the Cortes of Cádiz concerning the reduction of convents, abolition of mortmain, etc., recommending that the disputed questions be settled by mutual agreement with the Holy See and not unilaterally. Above all, the suppression of the tribunal of the Inquisition brought about a serious conflict between the government and the nuncio, who in July 1813 had to leave Cádiz and take refuge in Portugal. Recalled in 1814, following the return of Ferdinand VII, G. remained in Madrid for another two years. Created cardinal by Pius VII, with the title of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, on 8 March 1816, he was appointed archbishop of Palermo the following September. During the Sicilian revolution of 1820 he was president of the provisional committee for public security and public order, as well as lieutenant general, and supported the legitimate government.