Information AboutChigi-albani |
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Chigi-Albani is a Roman princely family of Sienese extraction descended from the Count s of Ardenghesca , which possessed castles in the Maremma , southern Tuscnay . The earliest authentic mention of them is in the 13th Century , with '''Alemanno''', counsellor of the Republic of Siena. First very prominent member is Mariano (1439-1504), banker and two times ambassador of Siena to the Popes Alexander VI and Julius II . He set the Roman branch of the family, the other starting from his brother '''Benedetto'''. ''', decorated by Raphael , and was noted for the splendour of his entertainments. Pope Julius II made him practically his finance minister and gave him the privilege of quartering his own ( Della Rovere ) arms with those of the Chigi. Fabio Chigi, on being made pope ( Pope Alexander VII ) in 1655, conferred the Roman patriciate on his family. His nephew '''Agostino''' was created by emperor Leopold I ''Reichsfurst'' (prince of the Holy Roman Empire) in 1659. Agostino married Maria Virgina Borghese, and acquired the principates of Farnese (1658), Campagnano (1661) and Ariccia, where a famous palazzo bearing the family name still exists. In 1712 the family received the dignity of hereditary marshals of the Roman Catholic Church and guardians of the Conclave s, which gave them a very great importance on the death of every pope. On the marriage in 1735 of another Agostino Chigi (1710-1769) with Giulia Albani, heiress of the Albani , a Venetian patrician family, said to be of Albanian origin, her name was added to that of Chigi. ''' Ludovico Chigi Albani Della Rovere ''' was Grand Master of the Knights of Malta from 1931 to 1951. The family owns large estates at Siena. The Family Palace (also called Palazzo Chigi, not to be confounde with thati in Ariccia), on the Via Del Corso in Rome , is currently seat of the Italian Government . See A. von Reumont, ''Geschichte der Stadt Rom'', vol. iii. (Berlin, i868); and ''Almanach de Gotha''. |
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