Pier Francesco Orsini
Encyclopedia
Pier Francesco Orsini also called Vicino Orsini, was an Italian condottiero and patron of the arts. He is famous as the commissioner of the Mannerist Park of the Monsters in Bomarzo
(northern Lazio).
, he was the son of Giovanni Corrado Orsini and Clarice Anguillara.
He inherited the duchy of Bomarzo seven years after the death of the father, thank to intercession of cardinal Alessandro Farnese (the future Pope Paul III
). He later married Alessandro's relative Giulia Farnese.
His career as condottiero ended in the 1550s, when he was taken prisoner and the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis ended the French-Spanish Wars in Italy. Orsini then retired to Bomarzo where he surrounded himself with literates and artists, and devoted to an Epicurean style of life, which negated any contact with religion. Here he had the family completed and, starting from 1547, the famous Park, whose enigmatic constructions and sculptures are one of the most suggestive example of late Renaissance art in Italy.
After the death of his wife he dedicated the park to her memory.
Pier Francesco Orsini died in 1583.
Bomarzo
Bomarzo is a town and comune of the province of Viterbo , in the lower valley of the Tiber. It is located 14.5 km ENE of Viterbo and 68 km NNW of Rome.-History:...
(northern Lazio).
Biography
Born in Corigliano CalabroCorigliano Calabro
Corigliano Calabro is a comune and town located in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria, southern Italy. In the comune are the ruins of the ancient city of Thurii.-External links:* * *...
, he was the son of Giovanni Corrado Orsini and Clarice Anguillara.
He inherited the duchy of Bomarzo seven years after the death of the father, thank to intercession of cardinal Alessandro Farnese (the future Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
). He later married Alessandro's relative Giulia Farnese.
His career as condottiero ended in the 1550s, when he was taken prisoner and the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis ended the French-Spanish Wars in Italy. Orsini then retired to Bomarzo where he surrounded himself with literates and artists, and devoted to an Epicurean style of life, which negated any contact with religion. Here he had the family completed and, starting from 1547, the famous Park, whose enigmatic constructions and sculptures are one of the most suggestive example of late Renaissance art in Italy.
After the death of his wife he dedicated the park to her memory.
Pier Francesco Orsini died in 1583.
Artistic tributes
- Alberto GinasteraAlberto GinasteraAlberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
's 1967 opera Bomarzo is based on the life of Orsini, as told in the book of the same name by Argentinian writer Manuel Mujica LáinezManuel Mujica LaínezManuel Mujica Láinez was an Argentine novelist, essayist and art critic.-Biography:...
.