Pius VI (1775). His consistent stand against French interests brought him closer to those of the Hapsburgs; he represented Hapsburg Austria at the Holy See, from 1756 until his death. On 12 August 1761 he was appointed Librarian of Holy Roman Church. During the papacy of Pope Clement XIV Albani realigned himself with the zelanti against the interference of Catholic monarchs in the diplomacy that surrounded the eventual expulsion and Suppression of the Jesuits from most Catholic countries. He died on 11 December 1779 and was buried in the Observant Franciscan Church of San Pietro in Urbino, Marche. Villa Albani Alessandro commissioned in 1745 the construction of the prominent Villa Albani in Rome. Building began in 1751 according to Giuseppe Vasi and celebrated as complete in 1763, to house his evolving, constantly replaced and renewed collections of antiquities and ancient Roman sculpture, which soon filled the casino that faced the Villa down a series of formal parterres. Albani's lifelong friend Carlo Marchionni was the architect in charge, at the Villa and perhaps also for the two temples in the park, an Ionic temple of Diana and a sham ruin. The Albani antiquities were catalogued by the Cardinal's secretary, the first professional art historian, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who was supported by Albani from the time when the Seven Years' War stranded him in Rome without his pension, and whose own connoisseurship was sharpened by the connection. After the Napoleonic upheavals the Albani heirs sold the villa to the Chigi, who were themselves related to the Albani and by this time had added the Albani name to their own. The Chigi eventually sold it to the Torlonia, the Roman bankers, to whom the villa still belongs. Cardinal Albani's coins and medals went to the Vatican Library, over which he had presided from 1761. The sarcophagi, columns and sculptures have been dispersed, but the famous bas-relief of Antinous remains in the villa. Cardinal Alessandro Albani had another villa and park at Porto d'Anzio, that was finished in February 1732, but was habitable for a few weeks only in spring because of malaria. Perhaps the villa and a casina in the park were by Marchionni. Excavations in the park brought to light many ancient Roman sculptures. Further reading Debenedetti, ed., Alessandro Albani, patrono delle arti ... = Studi sul Settecento Romano; 9 (1993) See also Albani (disambiguation) Notes External links Cardinals of the Holy