Vitaliano I Borromeo

Who was Vitaliano I Borromeo?

Vitaliano I Borromeo was an Italian Ghibelline nobleman from Milan, first Count of Arona. His father was Giacomo Vitaliani, ambassador of Padua to Venice, and his mother Margherita was of the prosperous family of Borromeo. He married Ambrosina Fagnani, and his only son was Filippo Borromeo. Many of his descendants took his name.

The events of Vitaliano Borromeo's youth and earlier life are unknown. According to one story, as a young man he was running out of money, and sold all his possessions to buy donkeys with covers embroidered with a camel sitting atop a basket, symbolizing his poverty. His rich but stingy uncle, Giovanni Borromeo, had previously denied his requests for money, but was so amused by this act designed to impress him that he allowed Vitaliano to enter his house.

Vitaliano was given citizenship of Milan in 1416, and rose in wealth and prestige. He bought much property, and served as treasurer in 1418. At some point he began a banking service that, under his son Filippo, would rise into prominence in all the major markets of Europe. He came into his inheritance in November 1431 when his uncle Giovanni Borromeo died, and he adopted his last name. In 1439 Filippo Maria Visconti awarded him the city of Arona on the western shore of Lake Maggiore, and six years later the Duke made him Count of Arona. In 1441 he was made a Milanese counselor. In 1447 he was elected a Captain and Defender of the Liberty of Milan at the first elections of the Ambrosian Republic.