Stefano Nardini was born in
Forlì. He received a
doctorate of both laws. As a young man, Nardini served in the military, before joining the ecclesiastical estate and traveling to
Rome. He became a
canon of
Ferrara Cathedral, and later General Treasurer of the
Marche. During the pontificate of
Pope Callixtus III, he was governor of
Romagna. Under
Pope Pius II, he was a
referendary, and later, a
protonotary apostolic. He then served as Pius II's
nuncio to
Germany; the pope wrote to him on 15 July 1459 about the advance of the
Ottoman Empire in the
Kingdom of Bosnia. On 13 November 1461 he was elected
Archbishop of Milan. He occupied that see until his death. He then served as a nuncio in the
Kingdom of Aragon, in which capacity he successfully sought the derogation of a
pragmatic sanction that endangered the freedom of the church. In July and August 1464, he accompanied the pope to
Ancona. Following the death of Pope Pius II, he returned to Rome for the
papal conclave of 1464 that elected
Pope Paul II. During that conclave, the
College of Cardinals had agreed that the number of cardinals should be fixed at 24; Archbishop Nardini and
Teodoro Lelio,
Bishop of Treviso, advised the new pope in September 1464 not to agree to this limitation. Paul II named Nardini nuncio extraordinary to the
Kingdom of Naples. From April 1467 to June 1468, he resided in
Paris as
papal legate to the
Kingdom of France. He was present in Rome when Paul II died in July 1471 and the College of Cardinals named him temporary governor of Rome. In the
papal conclave of 1471, the College of Cardinals elected
Pope Sixtus IV as the new pope. In the
consistory of 7 May1473, Sixtus IV made Nardini a
cardinal priest; he received the
red hat and the
titulus of
Sant'Adriano al Foro (a
deaconry elevated
pro illa vice to
titulus). As cardinal, he built the
Palazzo Nardini on the
Via del Governo Vecchio, next to the
Palazzo Taverna. On 10 June 1476 he accompanied the pope to
Viterbo, and later to
Foligno, because of an outbreak of
bubonic plague in Rome. In 1476, he opted for the
titulus of
Santa Maria in Trastevere. He was
Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 8 January 1481 until 7 January 1482. In 1483, he founded the
Collegio Nardini. He participated in the
papal conclave of 1484 that elected
Pope Innocent VIII. The new pope named him legate to
Avignon, but he died before he could perform his legation. He died in Rome on 22 October 1484. He is buried in
St. Peter's Basilica. ==References==