Adriano Castellesi

Adriano Castellesi, also known as Adriano de Castello or Hadrian de Castello (c. 1460 – c. 1521) was an Italian cardinal and writer.

Castellesi was born at Corneto, and was sometimes known as Adriano Castellesi da Corneto.

He was sent by Innocent VIII to reconcile James III of Scotland with his subjects. While in England, in 1503 he was appointed by Henry VII to the see of Hereford, and in the following year to the more lucrative diocese of Bath and Wells, but he never resided in either. Returning to Rome, he became secretary to Alexander VI and was made by him cardinal (31 May 1503). A man of doubtful reputation, Alexander's confidant and favourite, he paid the pope a large sum for his elevation. Castellesi served as the de facto if not appointed cardinal protector of England.

Castellesi bought a vigna in Borgo near the Vatican, where he built a sumptuous palace designed by Donato Bramante: it is now known as Palazzo Torlonia. In the summer of 1503 he entertained the Pope and Cesare Borgia here at a banquet that went on till nightfall despite the unhealthy season of the year, when ague in its most malignant form was rife. Of the three, Castellesi was the first to fall ill, the Pope succumbing a week after. There is no evidence that suggests the Pope was poisoned.

Soon after the election of Pope Leo X the cardinal was implicated in the conspiracy of Cardinal Alfonso Petrucci against the pope, and confessed his guilt; but, pardon being offered only on condition of the payment of 25,000 ducats, he fled from Rome and was subsequently deposed from the cardinalate. As early as 1504 he had presented his palace to Henry VII as a residence for the English ambassador to the Holy See; and on his flight Henry VIII, who had quarrelled with him, gave it to Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. Castellesi fled to Venice, but nothing is known for certain of his subsequent history. It is said that he was murdered by a servant when on his way to the conclave that elected Pope Adrian VI.

As a writer, he was one of the first to restore the Latin tongue to its pristine purity. Among his works are:

• De Vera Philosophia ex quatuor doctoribus ecclesiae (Bologna, 1507) Digital
• De Sermone Latino & modis latine loquendi (Basel, 1513)
• a poem, De Venatione (Venice, 1534).