Early Career and Pazzi Conspiracy
Born in poverty in Savona, Riario was the son of Antonio Sansoni and Violante Riario, a niece of Francesco della Rovere, who became Pope Sixtus IV in 1471.
Being the relative of a nepotist pontiff, he was created Cardinal of San Giorgio in Velabro on 10 December 1477 and received several dioceses (diocese of Cuenca, diocese of Pisa, diocese of Salamanca, diocese of Treguier, diocese of Osma). He was then only sixteen years old and a student of canon law at the University of Pisa. While returning to Rome in the spring of 1478, Riario halted in Florence, where he became a witness to the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici. Despite his innocence, Rafaelle was arrested by the Florentine authorities due to his relation to Girolamo Riario, his mother’s brother and the head of the plot, and Francesco Salviati. He was released a few weeks later, after the reconciliation of Sixtus IV and Lorenzo de' Medici. On 22 June 1478 he was received formally as a cardinal by the Pope in Siena and four days later he was sent as legate to Perugia.
It was not until 1480 that Raffaele was ordained priest and received the title of San Lorenzo in Damaso.
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