Federico Borromeo was an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, a prominent figure of Counter-Reformation in Italy. Federico was a hero of the plague of 1630, described in Alessandro Manzoni's historical novel, The Betrothed. He was a great patron of the arts and founded the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, one of the first free public libraries in Europe. In 1618 he added a picture gallery, donating his own considerable collection of paintings. His published works, mainly in Latin, number over 100. They show his interest in ecclesiastical archaeology, sacred painting, and collecting.
Portrait by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, 1610
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo
Luigi Pellegrini Scaramuccia, Federico Borromeo visits the leper house during the Plague of 1630, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Costanzo Corti (1824-1873), Monument to Cardinal Federico Borromeo in Piazza San Sepolcro (1865)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan
The Archdiocese of Milan is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Ambrosian rite, which is still used in the greater part of the diocesan territory. Among its past archbishops, the better known are Ambrose, Charles Borromeo, Pope Pius XI and Pope Paul VI.
The Milan Cathedral
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan