Ildebrandino Conti

Who is Ildebrandino Conti?

Ildebrandino Conti was an Italian churchman, and a member of the Conti family, a noble Roman family.

Ildebrandino Conti was made bishop of Padua in 1319, by Pope John XXII, but he left the administration of the diocese to a vicar, staying in Avignon until 1332. While he remained in Avignon he probably was employed by a Roman political group in the Curia.

Again in 1342 he is in the service of the Avignonese court returning to his see in 1347. Petrarch received a canonry in the church of Padua in 1349. In 1351 Ildebrandino urged Petrarch not to go to Avignon. He asked Petrarch to ignore the message received by two cardinals to abandon worldly ambition and avoid the rat race of curial responsibility of which the bishop himself already had ample experience. It turned out to be all in vain. Petrarch, while he went to Avignon to help his friends, did take Ildebrandino's advice on this. Ildebrandino himself died in Padua, November 2, 1352.