Angelo Maria Durini (29 May 1725 – 28 April 1796) was an Italian

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Roman-Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Durini was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. After studying in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and receiving the grade of a doctor, he worked in the

papal nunciature An apostolic nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See that is equivalent to an embassy. However, it neither issues visas nor has consulates. The head of the apostolic nunciature is called a ''nuncio'', an ecclesiastical dip ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was part of the Roman Curia and nuncio in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. From 1774 to 1776, Durini lived in

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. On 20 May 1776, Pope

Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

made him Cardinal. As Cardinal Durini was an important patron of the arts, his villa Balbianello on lake Como became a frequent venue for the most exclusive intellectual and social gatherings of the time. On one famous occasion, the Cardinal served the first coffee in Italy, which was called "thé nero francese" (French black tea). He died in his villa on

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

(the Villa Balbianello) in 1796. The villa passed to his nephew,

Luigi Porro Lambertenghi Count Luigi Renato Porro-Lambertenghi (July 12, 1780 in Como – February 9, 1860 in Milan) was an Italian nationalist, businessman, and politician. He was the son of politician and essayist Luigi Lambertenghi (1739–1813). He inherited Villa ...

."Villa Balbianello, Tremezzina" ''lakecomotravel.com''
retrieved May 20, 2016 ''note: article misidentifies Luigi as Angelo's grandson''

Villa Balbianello

The villa was built in 1787 on the site of a Franciscan monastery for the Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini. The two towers which can be seen in the picture are the campanili of the convent church. A number of feature films have used the villa for location shooting, including ''A Month by the Lake'' (1995), ''Casino Royale'' (2006). The villa was also used for the lake retreat scenes in ''Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones'' (2002); however, CGI was used in place of the building's true exterior.

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1725 births 1796 deaths Clergy from Milan 18th-century Italian cardinals Apostolic nuncios to Poland Cardinals created by Pope Pius VI Inquisitors of Malta {{Italy-RC-cardinal-stub