Savelli
Encyclopedia
The Savelli were a rich and influential Roman
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 aristocratic family who rose to prominence in the 13th century and became extinct in the main line with Giulio Savelli (1626—1712).

The family, who held the lordship of Palombara Sabina
Palombara Sabina
- Main sights:*Savelli-Torlonia Castle, built from the 11th century by the Ottaviani, a branch of the Crescentii family of Rome. Antipope Innocent III was arrested here in 1180. It was acquired by Luca Savelli, a nephew of pope Honorius III, in 1250, whence the current name...

, took their name from the rocca
Rocca (architecture)
Rocca is an Italian term meaning a high, fortifiable stronghold, usually located in smaller towns, beneath or on which the village or town clustered, within which its inhabitants might take refuge at times of trouble; under its owners' patronage the settlement might hope to find prosperity in...

(castle) of Sabellum, near Albano
Albano Laziale
Albano Laziale is a comune in the province of Rome, on the Alban Hills, in Latium, central Italy. It is also a suburb of Rome, which is 25 km distant. It is bounded by other communes of Castel Gandolfo, Rocca di Papa, Ariccia and Ardea. Located in the Castelli Romani area of Lazio...

, which had belonged to the counts of Tusculum
Counts of Tusculum
The counts of Tusculum were the most powerful secular noblemen in Latium, near Rome, in the present-day Italy between the 10th and 12th centuries. Several popes and an antipope during the 11th century came from their ranks. They created and perfected the political formula of noble-papacy, wherein...

 before it passed to the Savelli. Early modern genealogies of the Savelli, such as the unpublished manuscript "eulogistic treatise" compiled by Onofrio Panvinio
Onofrio Panvinio
The erudite Augustinian Onofrio Panvinio or Onuphrius Panvinius was an Italian historian and antiquary, who was librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese....

, drew connections to Pope Benedict II
Pope Benedict II
Pope Saint Benedict II was Pope from 684 to 685.Pope Benedict II died on May 8, 685. He succeeded Leo II. Although chosen in 683, he was not ordained until 684 because the leave of Emperor Constantine IV was not obtained until some months after the election...

, a possible but undocumentable connection, and even to the cognomen Sabellius of Antiquity.

They provided at least one pope: Giacomo Savelli, Honorius IV
Pope Honorius IV
Pope Honorius IV , born Giacomo Savelli, was Pope for two years from 1285 to 1287. During his unremarkable pontificate he largely continued to pursue the pro-French policy of his predecessor, Pope Martin IV...

 (1285–1287). His father, Luca Savelli
Luca Savelli
Luca Savelli was a Roman senator who in 1234 sacked the Lateran. He was born in 1190, died in 1266, and was married to Vana Aldobrandeschi. Luca's tomb is found at the Santa Maria in Aracoeli "Our Lady of The Heavenly Altar", along with his wife, and his son Giacomo . The papal tomb was actually...

, was a Roman senator and sacked the Lateran
Lateran
Lateran and Laterano are the shared names of several architectural projects throughout Rome. The properties were once owned by the Lateranus family of the former Roman Empire...

 in 1234. Luca's decision to side for Emperor Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

 against Honorius III's successor, Gregory, gained the family large possessions in the Lazio. Honorius' brother, Pandolfo Savelli
Pandolfo Savelli
Pandolfo Savelli was a member of the Savelli family, a son of Luca Savelli and brother of Pope Honorius IV. He held the office of podestà of Viterbo in 1275 and was on several occasions a Roman senator. In 1297 he strove in vain to mediate peace between Pope Boniface VIII and the Colonna....

, was the podestà
Podestà
Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...

of Viterbo
Viterbo
See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo UniversityViterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 80 driving / 80 walking kilometers north of GRA on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and...

 in 1275.

Later members include the condottieri
Condottieri
thumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...

 Silvio
Silvio Savelli
Silvio Savelli was an Italian condottiero. A member of the Savelli family of Rome, he was the brother of Troiano Savelli.After the initial baronal struggles against the Colonna and the Orsini, he was hired by the Republic of Florence, taking part in the war for Pisa in 1503–1505...

 and Antonello Savelli
Antonello Savelli
-Biography:A member of the Roman family of the Savelli, he was the son of Cristoforo Savelli and the uncle of Troilo.As a young he fought in the inner disputes between the baronal households of the city...

. Savelli Cardinals include Giovanni Battista Savelli
Giovanni Battista Savelli
Giovanni Battista Savelli was an Italian cardinal from the 15th century. Of the noble Savelli family to which belonged Pope Honorius III and Pope Honorius IV and Cardinals: Bertrando Savelli, Giacomo Savelli, Silvio Savelli, Giulio Savelli, Fabrizio Savelli, Paolo Savelli and Domenico Savelli...

 (1471 in pectore, 1480); Giacomo Savelli (1539); Silvio Savelli (1596); Giulio Savelli (1615); Fabrizio Savelli (1647); Paolo Savelli (1664); and Domenico Savelli (1853). The last member of the family left in Rome was Giulio Savelli, who died in 1712. A collateral line, the Giannuzzi Savelli ('Giannuzzi' adopted later on) represent descendants of Antonio Savelli of Rignano who moved to the Kingdom of Naples in 1421 to fight as a condottiero. The title principe di Cerenzia has been held in that family since Ercole Giannuzzi Savelli dei baroni di Pietramala inherited it in 1769 from his mother Ippolita Rota, last of her house. The republican patriot Luigi Giannuzzi Savelli dei principi di Cerenzia was shot 3 April 1799 by orders of Cardinal Ruffo, and the feudal lands of Prince Tommaso Giannuzzi Savelli of Cerenzia were confiscated: Cerenzia, Casino (Castelsilano) Montespinello (Spinello) Belvedere Malapezza, and Zinga..

By the 17th century, the Savelli had fallen on leand times. Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope. It is an Italian town with the population of 8834...

 had been relinquished under terms of Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...

's "bull of the barons" to the Apostolic Camera
Apostolic Camera
The Apostolic Camera, or in Latin Camera Apostolica or Apostolica Camera, is the central board of finance in the Papal administrative system, which at one time was of great importance in the government of the States of the Church, and in the administration of justice, led by the Camerlengo of the...

 in return for a mere 150,000 scudi in 1596, and in 1650 Albano
Albano Laziale
Albano Laziale is a comune in the province of Rome, on the Alban Hills, in Latium, central Italy. It is also a suburb of Rome, which is 25 km distant. It is bounded by other communes of Castel Gandolfo, Rocca di Papa, Ariccia and Ardea. Located in the Castelli Romani area of Lazio...

, with its princely title, was turned over to Giambattista, the only son of Camillo Pamphili.
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