He was the firstborn of
Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano and his wife
Flavia Peretti, a niece of
Pope Sixtus V. He grew up in Florence, where he lived at the
Medici court. On the death of his father in 1615, he inherited the
dukedom of Bracciano. In Rome in 1622 he became the second husband of the widowed
Isabella Appiani (–1635), the last survivor of the
Appiani family They did not have any issue, but he did have a natural son, Ippolito. He was also made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by
Ferdinand II on 18 July 1623. He lived in his castle at
Lake Bracciano, near Rome, where he amassed an art collection including paintings by
Tintoretto,
Salvator Rosa, and
Daniele da Volterra, prints by
Albrecht Dürer and
Ottavio Leoni, sculptures by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Johann Jakob Kornmann, among others. Paolo exchanged correspondence on the state of arts in Italy with
Christina, Queen of Sweden. He died on 24 May 1656. ==References==