, Rome Cinzio was born in
Senigallia, son of Aurelio Personeni da Ca' Passero or Passeri, Doctor in Fine Arts and Medicine, son of Bernardino Passeri and wife, and wife Giulia or Elisabetta
Aldobrandini, the latter being sister to Cardinal
Giovanni Aldobrandini, Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini (later
Pope Clement VIII), Pietro Aldobrandini (? - Rome, 11 February 1587), married to Flaminia Ferracci (? - Rome, 27 April 1603), sister of lawyer Muzio Ferracci (parents of
Olimpia Aldobrandini, 1st Princess of Rossano, and Cardinal
Pietro Aldobrandini), and Bernardo Aldobrandini, married to Livia Capizucchi, and daughter of
Silvestro Aldobrandini and wife Lisa Donati. In 1565 Cinzio began his studies in Letters and Law at Ippolito's household in
Rome. Attending Rome's Collegio Germanico, the
University of Perugia and the
University of Padua, he graduated as a Doctor of Law at Padua. Cinzio accompanied Ippolito on the legation to bring an end to the war between Poland and Germany and in 1588 was back in Rome to bring news of the legation's success to
Pope Sixtus V. On 17 September 1593 the consistory named Cinzio a cardinal deacon of
San Giorgio al Velabro with dispensation thanks to Ippolito's intercession to the
College of Cardinals. Governor of
Spoleto from 4 February 1595 until 21 February 1607, Cinzio then became prefect of the
Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica from 23 December 1599. From 1601 to 1607 he was
papal legate to
Avignon and he participated in the March–April and May 1605 conclaves. In 1605 he was made
Major Penitentiary by
pope Leo XI but suddenly resigned that office because he had still not been ordained priest - he was ordained priest later in 1605 and re-assumed the office. He was then given the
titulus of
San Pietro in Vincoli on 1 June 1605. He was known for his generosity to the poor and to the arts and letters, as well as being a friend of
Torquato Tasso (for some years in the papal service). Cinzio died in Rome in 1610 and was buried at San Pietro in Vincoli where nearly a century later (1705–07) prince
Giovanni Battista Pamphili Aldobrandini erected a monument to him, designed by the architect
Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri and with sculptures by
Pierre Le Gros the Younger. ==References==