SERBELLONI, FAMIGLIA. — Of Milanese origin, it acquired importance in the 16th century.
CECILIA was the wife of Bernardino Medici and the mother of Pius IV. Cardinal Gian Angelo Medici, bishop of Foligno,
resigned the bishopric in favor of his nephew GIOVANNI ANTONIO S. (born in Milan in 1519), and, having been elected pope, wished to have him near him and created him a cardinal together with his other nephew Carlo Borromeo on 13 January 1560. He held no important offices in the Curia; on 13 March 1560 he left Foligno for Novara and held that see until 26 April 1574, taking steps to introduce the Tridentine reform there; in 1568 he held a Synod there and founded a Seminary. Bishop of Ostia from 2 March 1589, he died in Rome on 18 March 1591 and was buried at S. Maria degli Angeli.
Together with Giovanni Antonio, his brother GABRIO came to Rome in 1559; he was captain of the papal guard, a renowned military engineer entrusted with providing for the defenses of Castel S. Angelo and the fortresses of the Papal States; he died in 1580. FABRIZIO was sent in October 1561 to defend Avignon against the Huguenots, but did not leave a good reputation behind him. GIOVANNI BATTISTA was appointed castellan of Castel S. Angelo in January 1560 and then, on 17 December 1561, bishop of Cassano al Ionio, to which he resigned on 6 February 1579. In the 18th century FABRIZIO, born in Milan on 7 November 1695, graduated in law at Pavia; Innocent XIII sent him as vice-legate to Ferrara, where he remained from 1721 to 1728, when he was appointed inquisitor of Malta. Clement XII sent him as nuncio to Florence in 1731; from there he went to Cologne, to Poland, and in 1746 to Vienna; on 26 November 1753 he was created a cardinal. Bishop of Ostia from 18 April 1774, he died on 8 December 1775. GIAN GALEAZZO, a politician, born in Milan in 1744 and died there on 7 March 1802, was among the collaborators of Napoleon I.
Renata Orazi Ausenda