Giovio worked as physician in Como but, after the plague spread in that city he moved to
Rome, settling there in 1513. He remained at the papal court for most of his career, moving among the great political and intellectual figures of the day and becoming a member of the Accademia della Virtù and the
Accademia degli Intronati.
Pope Leo X assigned him a
cathedra (chair) of
Moral Philosophy and, later, that of
Natural Philosophy in the Roman university. He was also knighted by the Pope. In the same period he started to write historical essays. He wrote a
memoir of Leo soon after his death. In 1517, Giovio was appointed as the personal physician for Cardinal
Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici (the future Pope Clement VII). In the field he wrote some treatises, like the
De optima victus ratione, in which he expresses his doubts about the current
pharmacology, and the need to improve prevention before the cure. Giovio helped Clement VII during the 1527
sack of Rome. From 1526 to 1528, he stayed on the island of
Ischia as
Vittoria Colonna's guest. In 1528, he became
bishop of Nocera de' Pagani. Giovio wrote an account of
Dmitry Gerasimov's embassy to Clement VII, which related detailed geographical data on
Muscovy. In 1536, Giovio had a
villa built for him on Lake Como, which he called
Museo, and which he used for his collection of portraits of famous soldiers and men of letters. After Clement's death, he retired. As well as paintings, he sought antiquities, etc., and his collection was one of the first to include pieces from the
New World. A set of copies of the paintings from the collection, now known as the
Giovio Series, is on display in the
Uffizi Gallery. ==Death==