The Casali family is an Italian noble family originating in the mountains around Cortona, in Tuscany, where it is attested from the early 13th century.. After holding municipal offices in Cortona, Arezzo and Pisa, the family established a lordship over Cortona and Pierle from 1325 to 1409. .. Following the fall of this lordship, part of the family passed through the Imola area before settling permanently in Bologna in 1434; , chapter 2, pp. 66–69. Dolfi records the Cortona ancestry and the Bartolomeo–Andrea parentage; Fletcher distinguishes this late genealogical tradition from the evidence for the family in 15th-century Bologna (p. 67, note 7). . Litta reproduces this genealogy but notes, in the entry on Bartolomeo, conflicting traditions and a connection to Cortona unsupported by conclusive evidence..
Admitted to Bologna's senatorial patriciate, the family produced senators, prelates and several diplomats in the service of the papacy, England, Venice and the Dukes of Parma, chapter 2, pp. 66–69.. Branches descended from the Casali of Monticelli settled notably in Florence, Lucca and France; the main Monticelli branch and its branches established in France survive to the present day.State Archives of Piacenza, Archives nationales de Tunisie and Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes.State Archives of Lucca and Archives nationales d'outre-mer, civil registration records for Algeria..
An old Roman branch, likewise descended from the Cortona branch, was closely connected with the Roman Curia and papal circles. A family of prelates, scholars and major collectors, it included the antiquarian and Cardinal . In 1814, it united with the family to form the Casali del Drago..
History
From the origins to the lordship of Cortona
Attested as early as 1217, the Casali belonged to a feudal family from the mountains around Cortona. Their possessions, including Casale, Castel Giudeo and Castel Gherardo, controlled the routes between the upper Tiber valley and the Valdichiana.
In 1325, became lord of Cortona and Pierle. His descendants retained the lordship for more than eighty years.
Imperial office also marked the family's rise: Guglielmino Casali, podestà of Arezzo in 1307, later served as imperial vicar in Cortona and as grand gonfalonier general in 1314 and 1316.; Bartolomeo, who succeeded his father Ranieri in 1351, was confirmed as imperial vicar by Emperor Charles IV in 1355.
Francesco Senese had governed Cortona since 1400 when his nephew Aloigi Battista Casali had him assassinated in 1407 and seized power. This coup precipitated the lordship's final crisis: overthrown in 1409, Aloigi Battista had to surrender Cortona to King Ladislaus of Naples, who subsequently ceded the town to Florence. Casali rule over Cortona thus came to an end, and part of the family left the region ; ..
Bologna, the Curia and European diplomacy
After initially taking refuge in the Imola area, the family settled permanently in Bologna in 1434 around Andrea Casali (died 1465), a grandson of Francesco Senese. A merchant and financier, Andrea obtained Bolognese citizenship in 1454 with the support of Cardinal Bessarion. By the following generation, the family had entered papal circles: his son Castellano, a doctor of canon law, was a protonotary under Innocent VIII and then apostolic secretary to Alexander VI; Castellano's brother Francesco was a banker and papal treasurer during the latter's pontificateCatherine Fletcher, study cited above.. In 1495, Castellano and Francesco obtained a family chapel in the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, where the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, painted in 1501 by Filippino Lippi for the Casali altar, is still preserved ; ..
The Casali in the service of Henry VIII
Andrea's grandson Gregorio Casali (1496–1536), Count of Castelvetro Piacentino, entered the service of Henry VIII and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as an agent in Italy as early as 1519. The king knighted him and granted him an annual pension of two hundred gold crowns ; Catherine Fletcher, study cited above..
Appointed resident ambassador to the Holy See in 1525, Gregorio took part in negotiations over the League of Cognac and in England's relations with the papacy, Venice and France. He subsequently played a central role in the attempt to obtain the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, seeking opinions from Italian jurists and theologians favourable to the royal position. He negotiated with Clement VII and Paul III and maintained relations with Francis I and Charles V. After Clement VII's death, he recommended that Cardinal Jean du Bellay support the candidacy of Alessandro Farnese, the future Paul III, at the conclave.
Gregorio's brothers participated in the same diplomatic network. His brother Giambattista Casali was sent by Clement VII to Henry VIII in 1525, then appointed the King of England's ambassador to Venice. Bishop of Belluno from 1527, he never took possession of his see because of Venetian opposition. After the sack of Rome, Giambattista urged Venice to intervene against the imperial forces and secured Alfonso d'Este's adherence to the League of Cognac; Henry VIII then tried unsuccessfully to have him made a cardinal. He remained ambassador in Venice until 1535, when he was sent to John Zápolya in Transylvania..
His brother Paolo Casali also pursued a papal and diplomatic career: a papal chamberlain, he served as nuncio in England in 1529Gian Paolo Brizzi, "Casali, Paolo", in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 21, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1978, pp. 102–103..
His brother Francesco Casali began his military career at a very young age. Admitted to an order of knighthood by Leo X at the age of seventeen, he commanded the light troops paid by Henry VIII during the 1524 campaign in Provence and covered the imperial retreat after the siege of Marseille. He later became a captain in Venetian service, served English interests militarily and represented the King of Hungary at the Holy See..
Senatorial branches in Bologna
A first branch entered the Senate of Bologna in 1525 with Count Andrea Casali (died 1550), son of the banker Francesco. Andrea defended Bologna against Annibale Bentivoglio, held military command in the Bolognese Apennines and then took part in the siege of Florence in 1530, while facilitating the university consultations sought by Henry VIII on the annulment of his marriage ; .. This branch included his son (1533–1582), papal ambassador to Philip II of Spain and later Bishop of Vigevano. His missions to Spain in 1566 and 1572 contributed to the transfer of Bartolomé Carranza's trial to Rome and to the recognition of Cosimo I's grand-ducal title; Philip II intervened twice, unsuccessfully, to have him made a cardinal.
Andrea's son Francesco Maria Casali succeeded him in the Senate in 1551. He commanded the guards of Bologna's legation palace and represented the city as ambassador to the Holy See. The entry « II. Francesco » records his knighthood in the Portuguese Order of Christ, his embassies, his command of the guards and his death in 1586; Dolfi, pp. 250–251, identifies him as Francesco Maria, son of Andrea..
Count Andrea's descendants continued to sit in the Senate of Bologna until his grandson Andrea Casali, born in 1584, was declared dead at the siege of Ostend in 1604, without descendants. His property passed to his cousin Count Michele Casali, who held a share in the lordship of Monticelli. In 1604, Michele's son Ferrante obtained the seat in the Senate of Bologna. The Monticelli branch thus combined its seigneurial position in the Piacenza area with the family's Bolognese political inheritance; . Andrea's reported death in 1604 was later disputed; Brizzi recounts the trial of a man who claimed to be him. .; ..
A prominent member of this second branch, Count Gregorio Filippo Maria Casali Bentivoglio Paleotti (1721–1802) taught military architecture and mechanics at the University of Bologna. His work on geometry, mechanics and ballistics helped spread Newtonian principles within Bolognese scientific culture. Appointed senator in 1764, he served as gonfalonier of justice in 1766. He presided over the Institute of Sciences before becoming rector of the university; the last representative of the senatorial branch, he bequeathed his property and archives to the Isolani Lupari ; ; ..
Casali of Monticelli
The Monticelli branch descends from the diplomat Gregorio Casali. In 1567, his son Michele, Count of Castelvetro Piacentino, received a share in the lordship of Monticelli d'Ongina from the Duke of Parma, establishing this branch in the Piacenza area.
In the 17th century, Francesco Casali, Michele's great-grandson. The table links Michele to Alfonso, then to Gregorio and Francesco, who was invested with the marquessate in 1660., served as Duke Ranuccio II Farnese's ambassador to the courts of France and Spain. In 1660, the duke created him Marquess of Monticelli d'Ongina, with the title transmissible to his male descendants. His son, Marquess Giuseppe Casali, subsequently represented the Duke of Parma at the court of Philip V of Spain and at the imperial court in Vienna. The entry on Giuseppe confirms the mission to Spain and his dispatch to Vienna in 1715. The precise dates 1707–1714 and the contents of the dispatches on Utrecht still require verification in the records. A research lead, not verified documentary evidence: Archivio di Stato di Napoli, Archivio Farnesiano, correspondence of Giuseppe Casali. The archival references, records and dates supporting the statements remain to be identified..
In the mid-19th century, amid the upheavals of the Risorgimento and Italian migration across the Mediterranean, a cadet branch of Monticelli settled in Tunisia and then in France, where it survives ; .. The main branch, however, remained in Italy on its estates and retained Monticelli d'Ongina Castle until 1957.
Another branch, descended from another son of the first marquess, settled in Florence and later adopted the name Casali della Vipera. One offshoot moved to Lucca in the 18th century, then to French Algeria in the 19th century, before settling in France.
Casali of Rome and Casali del Drago
Present in Rome from the 15th to the early 20th century, the Roman branch included (1578–1648), the author of works on ancient rites, ancient Egypt and the splendour of Rome, who assembled an important collection of antiquities in his palace in the Campus Martius..
(1715–1787), Governor of Rome and Vice-Camerlengo, was created a cardinal by Clement XIV. Through his work in the papal administration, Cardinal Antonio Casali contributed notably to the cadastral reform of the Papal States..
In 1814, Maddalena Casali, daughter and heiress of the Roman branch, married Marquess Stanislao ; their descendants placed the Casali name and arms before those of the Del Drago, giving rise to the Casali del Drago.. Marquess Giovanni Battista Casali del Drago (1838–1908), titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople and later a cardinal, served as Camerlengo of the College of Cardinals from 1901 to 1902 and took part in the conclave of 1903, which elected Pius X.. His death marked the extinction of the branch in the male line. His sister Maria Casali del Drago (1836–1927) transmitted the marquessate of Riofreddo to her Pelagallo descendants..
Simplified genealogies
Casali of Cortona — attested in 1217; lordship 1325–1409 │ ├──→ Casali of Bologna — documented from 1434 │ ├──→ First senatorial branch — 1525–1604 † │ └──→ Casali of Monticelli d'Ongina — 1567–present │ ├──→ Second senatorial branch — 1604–1802 † │ ├──→ Casali of Florence, later known as Casali della Vipera — 17th–18th centuries │ │ └──→ Lucca branch — 18th century; ⇒ became French — 19th century–present │ └──→ French branch of Monticelli — 19th century–present │ └──→ Casali of Rome — 15th century–1814