Olimpia Maidalchini
| Maidalchini Pamphilj, Olimpia | |
|---|---|
Contemporary portrait by an unknown artist
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| Born |
26 May 1591 Viterbo, Papal States |
| Died | 27 September 1657 (aged 66) San Martino al Cimino, Papal States |
Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj (26 May 1591 – 27 September 1657), (also spelled Pamphili and known as Donna Olimpia or Olimpia Pamphili), was the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X (Pamphili). She was perceived by her contemporaries as having influence regarding papal appointments.
Maidalchini was born in Viterbo, the eldest of three daughters of Sforza Maidalchini, a condottiere, and Vittoria Gualterio, patrician of Orvieto and Rome. Vittoria was a noble of Viterbo, the daughter of Giulio Gualterio, (who was the son of Sebastiano Gualterio, Bishop of Viterbo, and Papal Nuncio to France and the Council of Trent).
Her family was only moderately wealthy. In order to conserve the family property for his only son, Sfora Maidalchini decided that his daughters should enter religious life, where the dowry to enter a convent was less than that required for a suitable marriage. Olimpia refused, and in 1608 married Paolo Nini, one of the wealthiest men in Viterbo. Their two children both died in infancy and Nini himself died in 1611 at the age of twenty-three.
Her second marriage was to Pamphilio Pamphili, elder brother of Cardinal Giambattista Pamphili, the future Pope Innocent X. The Cardinal had been appointed nuncio to the Kingdom of Naples, and Pamphilio and his wife joined him, living in a home adjacent to the nunciature. Their son, Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili was born in Naples on 21 February 1622.
Upon their return from Naples, the brothers shared the ancestral family palace between Piazza Navona and Piazza Pasquino, constructed around the original nucleus of the building purchased by the first Paphiljs when they arrived from Gubbio. The separate wings of the palace accommodated both the cardinal's court and the residence for the eldest's family.
After Pamphilio died in 1639, Olimpia and Cardinal Pamphilj deliberated the prospect of a marriage for her son, Camillo, to perpetuate the lineage, preferably a marriage that would also be politically advantageous. In September 1644 Cardinal Pamphilj was elected pope, taking the name Innocent X. As a pope generally found the curial bureaucracy occupied by entrenched appointees of his predecessor, it was common practice to appoint a trusted relative to oversee the administration. Soon after his election, Innocent elevated his late brother's son, Camillo to the office of Cardinal-nephew. At the same time he redistributed some of the responsibilities of the office to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli, with the military duties assigned to Andrea Giustiniani and Niccolò Ludovisi who had married Innocent's nieces, Maria Flaminia and Costanza.
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