Agostino Andrea Chigi

Born into a wealthy Sienese family of merchants and patrons of arts, Agostino apprenticed first at his family’s office in Sienna and Viterbo, and later in Rome at a firm of Ambrogio Spannocchi. In partnership with his father and other associate, in 1487 he opened a bank in Rome which covered broad spectrum of activities from trade to currency exchange and tax accounting.

By the 1490’s he already earned a reputation of a successful businessman, and entered in to the service of the pope. In 1492 he was appointed director of the papal salt marshes, as well as of the customs operations of the Papal States, and of the taxes imposed by the Holy See. Due to prestige and connections that he gained through this service, Chigi was able to open more than one hundred offices of his firm in Italy and branches from London to the Levant. He was able to provide huge loans to the Borgias, the Medici, and even to the French king Charles VIII (r. 1483-1498).

After Chigi was granted a concession of the alum mines at Tolfa and came into possession of all the smaller alum mines in Italy, he established monopoly on alum in Europe, extending its sale as far as China. For that purpose, he improved extraction techniques and formed a commercial fleet comprising of one hundred ships. Alum represented an extremely lucrative business. In 1520, his net profits only from the mineral amounted to 300,000 ducats.

In 1502 he founded his own firm, the Banco Chigi in partnership with his father and a close friend. With the election of the pope Julius II in the same year, the bank has undergone tremendous success. Chigi became the pope’s banker and financier, political adviser and ambassador and eventually his close friend. The strength of their friendship is shown by the fact that the pope officially adopted Chigi into the pope’s family in 1511.

The next year he married Francesca Ordeaschi with whom he had three sons. His son Lorenzo dissipated greater part of wealth through mismanagement. Besides being successful businessman, Chigi was also renowned patron of arts.