Through Holste, Milton was also introduced to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, and was able to view the opera Chi soffre speri, hosted by the Cardinal.
At the age of 14, he went to Rome to learn to become an artist, and within a few years became part of the household of Cardinal Francesco Barberini.
Francesco Barberini (1597–1679), secretary of the Inquisition 1633-79
He received the commission in 1634, under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, whose palace was across the road.
It was rebuilt under Pope Nicholas V, had its long-held titular-church status suppressed by Pope Sixtus V, was renovated by Francesco Barberini in 1643, and rebuilt and given to the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Pope Clement XI and his architect Carlo Fontana in 1703-1705.
Francesco Rosi | Francesco Clemente | Francesco Bartolozzi | Francesco Guardi | Francesco Guccini | Francesco Marino Mannoia | Francesco Severi | Francesco Cossiga | Francesco Moser | Francesco Mondada | Gian Francesco Malipiero | Giovanni Francesco Fara | Francesco Redi | Francesco Quinn | Francesco Graziani | Francesco De Gregori | Francesco Crispi | Francesco Conconi | Francesco Barberini | Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini | Francesco Sartori | Francesco Ruggieri | Francesco Paolo Bontade | Francesco I da Carrara | Francesco Grimaldi | Francesco Coppola | Francesco Cavalli | Francesco Bonami | Francesco Alberoni | Pier Francesco Sacchi |
Among his correspondents were Galileo Galilei, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII, Famiano Strada, the historian of the Spanish wars in Flanders, Thomas Farnaby, the critic and grammarian, and Gregorio Panzani, who was sent by Urban VIII on a mission to the English Catholics.