The Cesi family is an Italian noble family which belonged to the high aristocracy of Rome and the Papal States.
The Cesi family takes its surname from Cesi. The fiefdom of Cesi was originally part of the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto. The Cesi fief was of the Arnolfi family, the chief seat of the Terre Arnolfe. The Arnolfi family claimed descent from the Lombard Arnulf, vassal of Duke of Spoleto. The duchy was then annexed to the Papal States. It comes from the Latin word caesi and the Latin verb caedere. Contraction of the Lombard toponym Cesina, which indicated a coppice wood or a place cleared of woodland. The original and common coat of arms of the Cesi was a carob (Ceratonia siliqua) tree on six mountains.
According to the "Relation de Rome" of the French Ambassador to the court of Urban VIII, Amayden, the Cesi family was located in Umbria (with its main seat the castle of Cesi). Antonio Chitani of Cesi, the chief of the family, and his wife Angela Ternabili were slaughtered in the Church of St. Anthony Abbot, in the castle of Cesi, on the feast day of the saint, with all their relatives. Only their son Pietro (1422âÂÂ1477), still in swaddling clothes, escaped the massacre. Pietro moved to Rome and later became a very famous consistory lawyer to the point of obtaining the office of podestàof Perugia first and then that of senator in Rome. The three sons born to Pietro, Bartolomeo, Pierdonato, and Angelo, respectively, originated three branches of the family.
The last of Pietro's sons, Angelo or Agnolo, married Franceschina Cardoli, a descendant on his mother's side of the famous condottiero Gattamelata; he himself was a very distinguished personage of his time, becoming a jurisconsult, professor of the Roman Archiginnassio, consistorial lawyer and senator like his father until he was noticed by Pope Julius II, who appointed him first apostolic secretary and then auditor of the apostolic chamber. He was also a splendid patron, commissioning Michelangelo to build the family chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome. His son, Maximilian Octavius, was bishop of Cervia, while two of his other sons, Federico and Paolo Emilio, were both cardinals.
Giangiacomo, Angelo's son, was decemvir at Todi and was noble of Terni. He took part in the siege of Florence in 1530, also distinguishing himself as a condottiero. Through his wife, Isabella Liviani d'Alviano, who bequeathed him his father's fiefdom, he was able to make an exchange with Pierluigi Farnese, receiving in exchange the fiefs of Acquasparta and Portaria.
Giangiacomo's son, Angelo, followed in his father's footsteps and was also a decemvir at Todi and a nobleman at Terni, embarking like his parent on a military career on behalf of the Church State. In 1569, during the reign of Pius V, he commanded a military expeditionary force in France to bring aid to Charles IX against the Huguenots. He distinguished himself in the capture of Poitiers where he later died in 1570. He had a palace in Rome in via della Maschera d'oro that later became the seat of his household and erected a grand mausoleum to his uncle, Cardinal Federico Cesi, in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
His sons were Bartolomeo, who later became archbishop of Conza, bishop of Tivoli and cardinal, and Federico, who first assumed the title of marquis of Monticelli. In favor of the latter, Pope Sixtus V erected the fiefdom of Acquasparta into a duchy in 1588, while Pope Paul V in 1613 granted him the principality over the marquisates of San Polo dei Cavalieri and Sant'Angelo. The latter married Princess Olimpia Orsini.
Federico (1562âÂÂ1630), was the eldest son of the former and 2nd Duke of Acquasparta. His brother Firmino, became bishop of Rimini. His son, founder of the Accademia dei Lincei, would be known as Federico the Lyncean and would be one of the greatest scholars of the 17th century. He married Princess Artemisia Colonna in first marriage and Marchesa Isabella Salviati in second marriage.
The family grew and prospered until the second half of the 17th century when it sold most of its property to the Borghese family. At this point the branch of the dukes of Acquasparta was succeeded by the one originated by Bartolomeo with Giacomo di Giuseppe who in 1804 and then with his son, Luigi in 1821.
The Pierdonato branch ruled with the title of marquis and duke in several fiefs in the Sabina area, dying out in 1657 with the death of Francesco Maria Cesi, duke of Ceri and Selci, titles that returned to the main branch of the lineage.
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<br>Don Giangiacomo (+1455) <br>= Donna Isabella , daughter of Count and Pentesilea dei
<br>Don Angelo (1542âÂÂ1570) <br>= Donna Beatrice Caetani, daughter of Don Bonifazio I 4ð Duke of Sermoneta and of Caterina dei Princes of Carpi
<br>Don Federico I (1562âÂÂ1630) <br>= Donna Olimpia Orsini, daughter of Giovanni 2ð Marquis of Lamentana and Porzia dei Counts dell'
<br>Don Federico II (1585âÂÂ1630): <br>= Donna Artemisia , daughter of Don Francesco and Donna Ersilia Sforza dei Counts of Santa Fiora <br>= Donna Isabella Salviati, daughter of Lorenzo Marquis of Giuliano and Donna Maddalena Strozzi dei Princes of Forano
<br>Donna Olimpia (1618) <br>= Ludovico Marquis of Massa Luense <br>= Paolo Sforza Marquis of Proceno
<br>Donna Caterina (1637) <br>= Giulio dei Marquis of San Lorenzo
<br>Paolo Emilio (+1611) <br>= Porzia dell', daughter and heiress of Giampaolo dei Counts dell'Anguillara and Margherita Orsini dei Princes of Taranto <br>= Costanza degli Atti
<br>Don Andrea (+1626) <br>= Donna Cornelia Orsini, daughter of Don Virginio Duke of San Gemini and Donna Giovanna Caetani dei Dukes of Sermoneta, already widow of Don Roberto Duke of Gallese
<br>Don Francesco Maria (+1657) <br>= Giulia , daughter of Prince Alessandro and Laura d' <br>= Donna Anna Caterina Aldobrandini, daughter of Don Pietro Duke of Carpineto and Donna Carlotta dei Princes of Albano
<br>Donna Maria <br>= Don Giovanni Angelo d', Duke of Gallese
<br>Don Giovanni (+1656) <br>= Giulia Veronica Sforza , daughter of Francesco Maria Count of Bagnolo, Todorano, Valdeponte, Corano, Ripoli, Confinente, Lagaro, Carpineta, Vado and Brigadello
<br>Donna Isabella (1676âÂÂ1753) <br>= Don Francesco Ruspoli, Prince of Cerveteri
<br>Romolo (+1573) <br>= Timotea Orsini dei Dukes of San Gemini <br>= Venere dei Princes of Castroprignano
<br>Donna Lucrezia (1577+) <br>= Giulio Landi Prince of Val di Taro
<br>Donna Isabella <br>= Duke Ludovico Lante Montefeltro Della Rovere, Marquis of Massa Luense
<br>Don Giuseppe Angelo (+1705) <br>= Donna Giacinta , daughter of Don Carlo Duke of Poli and Guadagnolo and Donna Isabella dei Dukes of Rignano
<br>Don Federico Pierdonato (+1762) <br>= Donna Silvia Maria Teresa , daughter of Don Giacomo Duke of Rignano and Virginia , already widow of Don Taddeo Barberini,
<br>Don Carlo Federico (+1774) <br>= Maria Vittoria , daughter of Marquis Clemente of Caste Viscardo and Maria dei Counts Rocci
<br>Don Federico (+1771) <br>= Maria Anna , daughter of Marquis Emilio and Maria dei Counts Bernardini Ferretti, who became heiress to the Cesi's Dukes of Rignano title, and transmitted it to her nephews from the family
<br>Don Federico (+1799) <br>= Matilde Malatesta, daughter of Felice Antonio Count of Sogliano
<br>Donna Nicolosa (1550+) <br>= Onofrio , Duke of San Gemini
<br>Pietro Donato detto Pierdonato (+1504) <br>= Lucrezia degli Atti
<br>Paolo Emilio (+1611) <br>= Porzia dell', daughter and heiress of Giampaolo Count dell'Anguillara and Margherita Orsini dei Princes di Taranto <br>= Costanza degli Atti
<br>Donna Anna Maria (+1647) <br>= Don Michele Damasceni ,
<br>Don Marcantonio <br>= Paola dei Princes of Albano, daughter of Tullio and Violante Orsini
<br>Don Federico (+ 1620) <br>= Olimpia Orsini, daughter of Giordano Orsini Duke of San Gemini
<br>Francesco (+1646) <br>= Margherita Sforza , daughter of Francesco Maria Count of Bagnolo, Todorano, Valdeponte, Corano, Ripoli, Confiente, Lagaro, Carpineta, Vado and Brigadello
<br>Giovanni (+ 1531) <br>= Camilla dei Marquis of Gerbeuville