Alessandro Peretti di Montalto

Alessandro Damasceni Peretti di Montalto (1571 - 1623) was an Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal Deacon. He received the title by his uncle Felice Peretti after the latter was elected Pope Sixtus V on April 24, 1585, in the consistory on May 13; the cardinal was then fourteen years old. The Republic of Venice inscribed him in the "Libro d'Oro" as a patrician of Venice that same year. Though he was made the permanent governor of Fermo the following year, and was often the papal legate in Bologna, he was not made a bishop until 1620, when he became Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. He served also as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church (1589-1623) and Cardinal Protector of the Kingdom of Poland (named on September 30, 1589 by King Zygmunt III Waza) and of the several religious orders.

Alessandro Peretti was born at Montalto delle Marche, the son of Fabio Damasceni and Maria Felice Mignucci Peretti, who was a niece of the pope on her mother's side. Like his great-uncle before him, Alessandro Peretti was also known as Cardinal di Montalto. His primary works as a great patron were the Villa Lante at Bagnaia, where he contributed to the gardens a casino matching the earlier one, and the church (though not the facade) of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, (begun in 1591), where Carlo Maderno constructed at the Cardinal's personal expense the second-largest dome in Rome, 1608 to 1621.

His portrait bust by Gian Lorenzo Bernini is at the Hamburg Kunsthalle. Surviving books from Cardinal Alessandro's library reflect pride in his relationship to the Pope through elaborate armorials and his perfect taste.

Cardinal Montalto was in turn the uncle of Francesco Cardinal Peretti di Montalto (1595‑1653), raised to the purple in 1641.

External links

* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1585.htm Biographical Dictionary of the Cardinals of the Roman catholic Church:]
* [http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi134.htm Rome Art Lover webpage:] San Andrea della Valle
* [http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi134.htm Genealogy of the Peretti] (in Italian): his brother Michele was made a prince and his two sisters made brilliant marriages