Personal Life
Pius IV was a nepotist. Among the relatives he favoured, the main figure is that of Carlo Borromeo, who became a leading figure in the counter-Reformation and a Catholic saint.
Under his reign Michelangelo re-built the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (in the Diocletian's Baths) and the eponymous Villa Pia, now known as Casina Pio IV and headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, was designed by Pirro Ligorio in the Vatican Gardens.
Katherine Rinne said in her book Waters of Rome that Pius IV also ordered public construction to improve water supply of the Rome city.
Read more about this topic: Pope Pius IV
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“I leave the governor’s office next week, and with it public life ... [which] has been on the whole a pleasant one. But for ten years and over my salaries have not equalled my expenses, and there has been a feeling of responsibility, a lack of independence, and a necessary neglect of my family and personal interests and comfort, which make the prospect of a change comfortable to think of.”
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