Cardinal Mazarin was a truly exceptional character.
He was born in Pescina in Abruzzo in 1602. He was gifted with great diplomatic skills and in 1634 he was already the Pope's Nuncio in Paris, where he established excellent relations with King Louis XIII and with the Prime Minister of France, the famous Cardinal Richelieu, who in 1639 hired him as secretary.
In 1641 Urban VIII Barberini appointed him cardinal, even though he was never a priest.
In 1642 Richelieu died and Mazarin became Prime Minister of France, the following year the King also died and since Louis XIV (the Sun King) was just five years old, Cardinal Mazarin found himself to be for many years, as regent, at the head of the Kingdom of France.
Some historians even speculate that Louis XIV was his son.
In the summer of 1644 after a strenuous conclave, following the death of Urban VIII, Cardinal Pamphili, who was already 70 years old and who took the name of Innocent X, was elected pope.
The Barberini thought they could continue their power politics (READ ALSO) and instead were immediately put on trial, also because they were hated by Donna Olimpia, sister-in-law of Innocent X (perhaps lover and for a decade effective head of the state).
The Barberini took refuge in Paris, but soon returned to the city with the authoritative protection of Cardinal Mazarin.
The cardinal's sister had four very beautiful daughters and in 1650 took them to the court of Versailles, relying on her brother to educate them.
Indeed these girls, with their cousins, created a cheerful group called "Les mazarinettes".
Olimpia, born in 1636, married a Savoy and her son became the famous general Eugene of Savoy who, at the head of the Austrian army, defeated the Turks and built the Belvedere, the most beautiful palace in Vienna.
Maria meanwhile married a Colonna, prince of Paliano, but escaped to the north and was also a lover of Louis XIV.
And then there was Ortensia Mancini, born in 1646, the beloved, for whom the cardinal aimed to grant the kingdom of France.
But in 1661 Mazarin died after having arranged the marriage between the Sun King and Maria Theresa of Austria the year before, and Ortensia, appointed duchess, had to content herself with marrying Charles de la Porte at 15 years of age, the richest man in France.
An unhappy marriage, he was jealous and violent, they had five children one after the other but in 1668 Ortensia fled to Rome with her sister Maria, and then together they ran away to Savoy.
Here Ortensia also had a story with Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, until she was offered in 1675 to go to London to the court of King Charles II, of whom she became a lover.
She died in 1699 at 53 years after this troubled life. And this epigraph was dedicated to her:
“On 11 June 1699 the famous Duchess of Mazarin died. She had been the wealthiest woman in Europe. Niece of Cardinal Mazarin, she was of extraordinary beauty and spirit, but dissolute and intolerant of the restrictions of marriage."
Between 1650 and 1655, Cardinal Mazarin had the Church of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio built in front of the Trevi Fountain at his expense, with the face of his favourite niece Ortensia carved on the facade and two female figures with bare breasts on the sides of the church.
It is the only church to have these details.
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