Chigi, Family

CHIGI, FAMILY. - It appears in the Sienese history of the 13th century, and from the very beginning its members were bankers, and some were entrusted by their city with missions, especially to the papal court.

It acquired nobility in 1377 and was distinguished by the b. Giovanni (1300-63), a hermit in the convent of S. Leonardo di Lecceto, and by the b. Angela (flourished in the second half of the 14th century), a hermit (after four marriages) in the monastery of S. Agostino in Siena. The still-existing branches of the C. descend from the brothers Mariano (1439-1504) and Benedetto (b. 1449).

MARIANO was a banker of great fame, took part in extraordinary Sienese embassies, in 1492 and in 1502, to Alexander VI and to Cesare Borgia; in the years 1473-74 he rebuilt the palace in via del Casato di sotto, in Siena; in 1502 he commissioned from Pietro Perugino the panel of the Crucifix with various Saints, in the church of S. Agostino in Siena.

Of Mariano's sons, AGOSTINO (c. 1465-1520), having moved to Rome after his father had established in 1487 a banking company between him and Stefano Ghinucci, in 1502 himself established another trading company with Francesco Tomasi, and soon opened new banking businesses with the Spannocchi. He was treasurer of the Church, obtained concessions and privileges for the supply of grain to the Papal State, the contract for the customs, that for the salt works of the Apostolic Chamber and of the Kingdom, together with that for the alum mines of Tolfa, Agnano and Ischia. For the alum trade of Tolfa, the cession of Port'Ercole, made to him in 1506 by the commune of Siena, was of great use to Agostino. This commune, though so sparing in the use of honorary titles toward its own citizens, attributed to Agostino the title of magnifico.

From his bank in Rome Agostino maintained commercial relations with all of Europe; he had twenty thousand dependents and a fortune amounting, it is said, to eight hundred thousand ducats. He financed Cesare Borgia in his wars, the Medici in exile, Leo X in his extravagances. Julius II adopted Agostino and his brother Sigismondo, with their descendants, into the Della Rovere family. But the honors done him by this Pope, as already by Alexander VI, were nothing in comparison with those received from Leo X, who attended no fewer than three times the banquets offered by Agostino in the suburban residence at the Lungara, known by the name of Farnesina (30 Apr. 1518, summer 1518, 28 Aug. 1519). After the third of such banquets, Leo X blessed the marriage of Agostino (widower of Margherita Saracini and formerly a friend of the famous Imperia) with Francesca Ordeaschi, by whom he had several legitimized children. Then the Pope, with the twelve cardinals present, attended the drawing up of Agostino's will, in which it was provided, among other things, that the chapel in S. Maria della Pace be completed, beneath Raphael's Sibyls and the Prophets after his own design; and likewise the chapel in S. Maria del Popolo, designed by Raphael and intended to receive the tomb of the Magnificent. Agostino, among other things, left to his sons the villa later called the Farnesina, designed by Baldassarre Peruzzi and adorned with paintings by him, by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi known as il Sodoma, by Sebastiano del Piombo, by Raphael and by his pupils. Agostino was also a friend of men of letters, such as Bembo, Giovio and Aretino, and he opened a printing house in Rome, from which issued the Pindar of 1515 and the Theocritus of 1516.

The riches he had accumulated lasted but a short time after the death of the magnificent Agostino: his direct line died out in 1573. His brother Sigismondo (1479-1525), married (1507) to Sulpizia of the magnificent

Pandolfo Petrucci, had built (1505) the Villa delle Völte (Sovicille) and had enlarged and embellished the paternal palace in Siena. Mario (1511-64), his son, consumed a great part of the inherited patrimony: from him was born Flavio (1548-1611), father of Fabio, the future Alexander VII (v.). In May 1656, Alexander VII, until then opposed to nepotism, resolved to summon to Rome his brother Mario (1594-1669), the latter's son Flavio, and the sons of his other brother Augusto (1605-51), namely Agostino and Sigismondo. Mario became general of the Holy Roman Church, FLAVIO (1631-93) was created cardinal on 9 April 1657, superintendent of the general affairs of the Holy See, legate of Avignon, then (1659) librarian of the Holy Roman Church. He was prefect of several Congregations, was sent as legate a latere to France, in execution of the peace of Pisa (12 February 1664), became bishop of Albano in 1686, bishop of Porto in 1689. He had Bernini build him the palace (now Odescalchi, enlarged and with its façade deformed)

in the piazza dei SS. Apostoli, and there he collected classical statues (sold in 1728 to the king of Poland and still forming the most important nucleus of the Albertinum in Dresden) and ancient and modern paintings. He commissioned from Bernini the funeral monument of Alexander VII in St. Peter's in the Vatican. He contributed much to the decoration of the chapel of the Madonna del Voto, begun by Alexander VII in the cathedral of Siena under the direction of Bernini, and he built the villa of Cetinale (Sovicille), with architecture by Carlo Fontana. With his father Mario and his cousin Agostino (1634-1705, from 1658 prince of Farnese and from 1659 prince of the Holy Roman Empire) he had bought (1661) from the Savelli the land of Ariccia, later erected into a duchy, and from the Orsini the lands of Campagnano di Formello, of Cesano and of Scrofano, later erected, respectively, into a principality, a duchy and lordships. On his own (1663) he had bought from the Cesi the land of Magliano Pecorareccio, erected into a marquisate. In the palace (formerly Aldobrandini) at the corner of the Corso with piazza Colonna, completed by Agostino on the four sides of the courtyard, was housed the Chigiana library, its greater and better part of manuscripts collected by Fabio (later Alexander VII) and then increased with printed books. Sold by the C. with the palace, in 1918, to the Italian State, it was incorporated, in 1922, into the Vatican Apostolic Library.

SIGISMONDO (1649-78), brother of Agostino, grand prior of Rome of the Order of Malta, was created cardinal on 12 December 1667 and held the legation of Ferrara from 1673 to 1676. AUGUSTO, son of Agostino (1662-1744), received from Clement XI, in 1712, the office of marshal of the Holy Roman Church custodian of the Conclave, vacant through the extinction of the Savelli and become hereditary in the C. family. AGOSTINO (1710-69), son of Augusto, knight of the Austrian Golden Fleece, through his marriage to Giulia Augusta Albani of the princes of Soriano, secured for the family any rights over the hereditary property of the house of Clement XI. His brother FLAVIO (1711-71), created cardinal on 26 November 1753, notably enriched the Chigiana library with printed books. SIGISMONDO (1736-93), son of Agostino, a brilliant friend of archaeological studies, of the arts and of letters (his relations with Vincenzo Monti being particularly well known), displeased, by the advanced opinions he professed, the pontifical government, which seized the pretext of an untenable accusation against him of attempted poisoning to the detriment of card. Filippo Carandini, in order to condemn him in absentia to perpetual banishment. AGOSTINO (1771-1855), son of Sigismondo, himself also a man of letters and a friend of the arts, is known especially for the diary kept from 1801 to 9 June 1809 and from 11 June 1814 to 9 December 1855, the eve of his death, with the voluntary gap for the five years of the French occupation of Rome: he was the first to join the name of Albani to that of C. FLAVIO (1810-85), his son, represented Pius IX at Moscow, at the festivities for the coronation of Alexander II (1855), was nuncio at Munich and at Paris and was created cardinal on 22 December 1873. Of the cardinal's great-nephews, Agostino (1858-96) fell valiantly at Adwa and the present head of the C. della Rovere Albani branch, LUDOVICO (b. 1866), has been since 30 May 1931 grand master of the Order of Malta.

From Benedetto (b. 1449), brother of Mariano, descended CAMILLO (b. 1503), who was one of the ambassadors sent to Charles V in 1550, to dissuade him from erecting the citadel in Siena, and SCIPIONE (b. 1507), his brother, who, with other fellow citizens, after the expulsion of the Spaniards (July 1552), was called to reform the government of Siena, and in April 1555, with seven others, went as orator to the duke of Florence, for the surrender of Siena and its State. From his nephew SCIPIONE (1584-1633), a musician of noted fame, patron, captain of the people, gonfalonier, descended the C. known as di Città, extinct in the 18th century. From IACOMO, brother of this Scipione, descended the C. known as di Camollia, among whom is to be remembered CARLO CORRADINO C. (1802-81), who first entered the Sardinian navy, and distinguished himself in it in the expedition of Tripoli (1825) but then left it in 1839. A meritorious governor of Elba, from 1840 to 1846, gonfalonier of Fivizzano at the difficult moment of the annexation to the duchy of Modena in 1847, he organized the Tuscan militias in 1848, had to deal with the relations between these and the Sardinian army and fought valiantly at Curtatone where he lost his left hand. He commanded the Florentine civic guard, resigned so as not to fail in his oath to the grand duke, but did not support the reaction. Gonfalonier of Siena in 1859, first among the Tuscan magistrates he had the annexation to the Kingdom voted. In the senate, to which he belonged from 1860, pro-he delivered in 1867 a fierce speech against the proposal to suppress the religious corporations.

From Agnese C. (b. 1629), married in 1645 to Ansano Zondadari, derives the C. Zondadari branch, willed by her brother Cardinal Flavio (1631-93), who left to her and to her firstborn son, Bonaventura (1652-1719), the marquisate of S. Quirico, conferred upon him by Cosimo III in 1677, and his other properties in Tuscany, with the obligation to assume the name and coat of arms C., for himself and for his descendants, in order of primogeniture. Of Agnese's other sons, MARCANTONIO (1658-1722) was elected on 13 Jan. 1720 grand master of the Order of Malta; ANTON FELICE (1665-1737), archbishop of Damascus from 1699, was sent by Clement XI, first as extraordinary nuncio to Philip V warring in Italy and in Spain, then as ordinary nuncio in Spain from 1706, was sent back from there in 1709, and had to remain three years in the State of Avignon; he was created cardinal on 18 May 1712; Alessandro (1669-1744) was archbishop of Siena from 1714. ANTON FELICE (1739-1823), in 1785 titular bishop of Adana in Cilicia and nuncio at Brussels, was expelled in 1787, by order of Joseph II; archbishop of Siena from 1795, he was created cardinal on 23 Febr. 1801. - See Pl. XCIV.

Galatea at the Farnesina, Royal Academy of Italy. "La Farnesina" Collection, Rome 1934; O. Montenovesi, Agostino C. banker and contractor of the alum of Tolfa, in Archivio della R. Deputazione romana di st. patria, 60 (1937), pp. 107-47; V. Golzio, Artistic documents on the Seicento in the Chigi archive, with a presentation by R. Paribeni (Royal Institute of Archaeology and History of Art), ibid. 1939; P. Paschini, The Chigi (Royal Institute of Roman Studies, "The great Roman families", 3), ibid. 1946.

Giovanni Incisa della Rocchetta