Carlo Bonelli dei marchesi di Cassano was born in 1612, the great-great-grand-nephew of
Pope Pius V. He received his doctorate in law from the
University of Perugia and was appointed private chamberlain to
Pope Urban VIII. His career in the
Roman Curia resulted in appointments as governor of several cities of the
Papal States, including
Rome, then as
vice-camerlengo from 15 April 1655 to 18 October 1656, when he was appointed to the titular position of
Latin Archbishop of Corinth. Fortified by the title, he was sent as
nuncio extraordinary to
Philip IV of Spain to establish peace among the Christian princes, 27 October 1656. With the
Treaty of the Pyrenees signed in 1659, he remained in
Madrid as ordinary nuncio until 1664. When he was recalled to Rome and made cardinal in the
consistory of 14 January 1664, with the
titulus of S. Anastasia, he brought with him the
auditor of the papal legation at the court of Madrid, the antiquarian
Raffaello Fabretti, who took advantage of Bonelli's leisurely return through the south of France to extend his knowledge of Roman antiquities. Bonelli died on 27 August 1676. His tomb by
Carlo Rainaldi in
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, has not been admired by art historians. ==References==