SALVIATI, FAMIGLIA. – Of Florence. The first of the S. of whom there is certain record is CAMBIO di SALVI, gonfalonier of justice in Florence in 1335; his descendants held high offices during the republican period. FRANCESCO, archbishop of Pisa from 14 October 1474, having been offended at not obtaining the see of Florence because of Lorenzo de' Medici, took part in the Pazzi conspiracy and was killed in 1478. ALAMANNO married Caterina di Averardo de' Medici and was the father of GIOVANNI; the latter’s son, IACOPO, husband of Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici, defended Florentine liberty in 1530 and died in 1533. Of Iacopo’s children, MARIA married Giovanni delle Bande Nere and was the mother of Cosimo I; GIOVANNI was a cardinal; BERNARDO (d. in 1568), bishop of Clermont, was made a cardinal in 1561.
From another branch came ALAMANNO di AVERARDO, who was among the leading Florentines during the Savonarolan period and died in 1509. His daughter MARIA married Francesco Guicciardini. In the sixteenth century, LEONARDO (1540–89) should also be remembered: a member of the Accademia della Crusca and a critic of Tasso, but also a learned grammarian and an authority on questions of language; ALESSANDRO di PIETRO, who defended Siena in 1544 and was executed by Cosimo I; and LORENZO di IACOPO, who received the marquisal title from Clement VIII and the ducal title from Urban VIII.
Throughout the sixteenth century, a group of cardinals from this family distinguished itself. The first was GIOVANNI, son of Iacopo S., papal secretary, and of Lucrezia de' Medici, sister of Leo X, born in Florence on 25 March 1490 and created cardinal deacon on 1 July 1517. He received the bishopric of Fermo in commendam on 8 February 1518 and held it until 1521; then that of Ferrara on 12 September 1520, which he held until 1 May 1550. Clement VII sent him as legate to Lombardy in 1524 and in 1525, after the battle of Pavia, to negotiate peace. He was serving as legate in France during the sack of Rome (1527); and, although with little prudence, he worked for the Pope’s liberation. He was then present in Bologna at the coronation of Charles V (1530). Clement VII granted him in commendam the bishoprics of Volterra on 30 July 1530 (until 1532) and of Teano on 21 June 1531 (until 1535), the archbishopric of S. Severina on 15 November 1531 (until 1535), and the bishopric of Bitetto on 10 January 1532 (until 1539); on 16 November 1533 he was appointed legate in Rome during the Pope’s absence. With the death of Clement VII, all influence of the cardinal ceased. He received in commendam the bishopric of St-Papoul in France on 12 August 1538 and became bishop of Albano on 7 January 1543. He died at Ravenna on 28 October 1553. The brother of Card. Giovanni was BERNARDO, a Hospitaller knight,
who, in that capacity, fought in the Mediterranean on the order’s ships and was prior of Rome. He received the bishopric of St-Papoul on 5 June 1549 through his brother’s resignation, and that of Clermont on 8 August 1561, which he held until March 1568; he was also almoner to Queen Caterina de' Medici. Pius IV created him a cardinal on 26 February 1561; he died in Rome on 6 May 1568.
The nephew of the two preceding men was ANTON MARIA S., also a Hospitaller knight, born on 21 January 1537. He received the bishopric of St-Papoul through his uncle’s resignation on 8 August 1561 and held it until 1567. He was nuncio in France for Pius IV; as a cleric of the Camera, he also held other offices in the Curia, until Gregory XIII created him cardinal of S. Maria in Aquiro on 12 December 1583, and Sixtus V sent him as legate to Bologna in 1585. Until 1579, as prelate-guardian of the hospital of S. Giacomo in Augusta, he supervised the rebuilding of that hospital and, in 1592, also of the church. He likewise rebuilt his church of S. Maria in Aquiro and provided for its attached orphanage with a new endowment. He extended his benefactions to the maternity hospital at S. Rocco and to the Celate. He died in Rome on 28 April 1602. Later, ALAMANNO S., born in Florence on 22 March 1669, nuncio in France in 1707 and created cardinal by Benedict XIII on 8 February 1730, was prefect of the Segnatura di Giustizia in 1731; he died in Rome on 24 February 1733. GREGORIO S., born in Rome on 12 December 1722, pursued his prelatical career as a cleric and then auditor of the Camera, until he was created cardinal deacon by Pius VI on 23 June 1777; he died in Rome on 5 August 1794. Since one of Gregorio’s nieces had married Francesco Borghese, he made him heir to the name and title; consequently SCIPIONE (1823–92), Francesco’s son, took the name S. After 1870, Scipione stood at the head of the Catholic movement in Italy.