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Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), after her abdication and conversion to Catholicism, settled in Rome, establishing a court that broke political, cultural and religious conventions in seventeenth- century Europe. From 1659 until her death, Palazzo Riario alla Lungara hosted a cosmopolitan community of about 180 members, including aristocrats, intellectuals and marginal figures. This study draws on a comparative analysis of two 1689 court registers, administrative sources that help reconstruct the composition, privileges and functions of the court. The findings highlight an organisation inspired by contemporary models but marked by three distinctive traits: a strong intellectual component, a client network centred on Cardinal Decio Azzolino, and an unprecedented charitable function supporting vulnerable groups. This latter aspect, often overlooked, reveals the court as a space of inclusion for unmarried women, widows, the elderly, the disabled and converts, who received social and financial assistance. In parallel, the study sheds light on the medical enclave from the Marches, introduced by Azzolino, which allowed several physicians to advance their careers in Rome. After the queen’s death, the court dissolved rapidly, yet its experience stands out as a rare example of a female and cosmopolitan court, combining artistic and scientific patronage, clientelism and Christian charity. This research thus offers a revised interpretation of Christina’s court policy, redefining her as a sovereign who combined power and cultural prestige with protection of the vulnerable.  

Cristina di Svezia (1626-1689), dopo l’abdicazione e la conversione al cattolicesimo, si stabilì a Roma, dando vita a una corte originale nel panorama politico e culturale del XVII secolo. L’insediamento a Palazzo Riario alla Lungara, dal 1659 fino alla morte della sovrana, configurò una comunità cosmopolita composta da circa 180 membri, che includeva aristocratici, intellettuali e figure marginali. Lo studio si basa sull’analisi comparata di due ruoli di corte del 1689, fonti amministrative utili a ricostruire la composizione, i benefici e le funzioni della corte. Ne emerge un’organizzazione ispirata ai modelli coevi ma caratterizzata da tre elementi distintivi: un’intensa attività intellettuale, una rete clientelare legata al cardinale Decio Azzolino e un’inedita funzione di protezione verso soggetti vulnerabili. Quest’ultimo aspetto, finora trascurato, mostra la corte come spazio di inclusione per donne sole, vedove, anziani, disabili e convertiti, che trovavano sostegno economico e sociale. Accanto a questi dati, la ricerca mette in luce anche l’enclave medica fermana introdotta da Azzolino, che permise a diversi professionisti marchigiani di consolidare le loro carriere nella capitale. Alla morte della regina, la corte si dissolse rapidamente, ma la sua esperienza rimane un caso raro di corte femminile e cosmopolita, capace di integrare mecenatismo artistico e scientifico, reti clientelari e carità cristiana. Questo lavoro offre quindi una nuova prospettiva sulla politica di corte di Cristina, ridefinendone il profilo come sovrana che univa potere, cultura e attenzione ai più fragili. 

The tomb of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), buried among the Popes at the Vatican Basilica, was reopened in 1965. Her remains were examined by the Swedish anatomist and anthropologist Carl Herman Hjortsjö (1914-1978) from the University of Lund. In 1966 he published a detailed report on the medical-anthropological investigation where he denied the question of the Queen’s intersexuality, improperly theorised by the gynaecologist Elis Essen-Moller and the literary critic Sven Stolpe, with the objective results of his investigations: the Queen’s remains were typically female in structure, features and size. The aim of this article is to restore the scientific value of Hjortsjö’s study, rarely cited in the historiography about the Queen, despite its importance.  The report re-establishes her female gender as an indisputable organic fact and suggests the formulation of other hypothesis on the Queen’s male behaviour as a modern attitude to managing power in a world dominated by males.

La tomba della regina Cristina di Svezia (1626-1689), sepolta tra i papi nella Basilica Vaticana, fu riaperta nel 1965. I suoi resti furono esaminati dall'anatomista e antropologo svedese Carl Herman Hjortsjö (1914-1978) dell'Università di Lund. Nel 1966 pubblicò un resoconto dettagliato dell'indagine medico-antropologica in cui confutava l'ipotesi di intersessualità della regina, teorizzata impropriamente dal ginecologo Elis Essen-Moller e dal critico letterario Sven Stolpe, con i risultati oggettivi delle sue indagini: i resti della regina erano tipicamente femminili per struttura, caratteristiche e dimensioni. L'obiettivo di questo articolo è restituire valore scientifico allo studio di Hjortsjö, raramente citato nella storiografia sulla regina, nonostante la sua importanza. Il rapporto ristabilisce il genere femminile come fatto organico indiscutibile e suggerisce la formulazione di altre ipotesi sul comportamento maschile della Regina come atteggiamento moderno di gestione del potere in un mondo dominato dagli uomini.

The controversial figure of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) has been the subject of a wide historical literature, particularlyin relation to her strong choices, such as the abdicationfrom the throne of Sweden and the conversion to RomanCatholicism. Certain historians wanted to identify the reasonsfor these choices in her sexual ambiguity - a presumed homosexuality- and congenital sexual anomalies, such as hermaphroditismand hyperandrogenism.The article analyses psychological and medical theories onthe Queen’s sexuality in the essays, published from the Nineteenthcentury up to now, integrating research with unpublishedarchival documentation - letters by court doctors, privatecorrespondence and the Queen’s autobiography. The aimof the article is to restore the truth about the Queen’s sexualorientation. The anthropological examination, carried out onthe Queen’s skeleton, confirms typical female features, just asthe analysis of the recently discovered archival documentationshows a heterosexual orientation. Christina had a masculineattitude more because of the male education she received, thevirile role she assumed as a sovereign, her proud nature asa lover of freedom, her adherence to libertine thought and,above all, the male language of power during the modern agerather than for presumed sexual anomalies.

Introduction: Cardinal Decio Azzolino Jr. (1623-1689), a leading figure at the Roman curia in the 17th century met in 1655 queen Christina of Sweden, arrived in Rome after her conversion to Roman Catholicism. The queen appointed the cardinal as her universal testamentary heir before her death on April 16th, 1689. Azzolino died of a sudden death shortly after, on June 8th. The article aims to question Azzolino's sudden death through the analysis of the cardinal's illnesses from which he was afflicted in the last decades of his life, examining the most likely causes of his demise.

Methodology: Various unpublished epistolary letters were analysed, according to the chronological order of production between 1660 and 1689. A philological approach coupled with clinical-medical hypothesis inferable by the examined sources.

Results: The cause of death is identified as an unexpected dropsy in some letters and the death certificate. The analysis of the letters allows the reconstruction of Azzolino' state of health and illnesses in the last two decades of life: bilious excesses, inflammations, podagra and gout, which appeared with the inflammation of the knee and walking difficulties, and, finally, asthenia, dyspnea and a probable stroke.

Conclusion: The dropsy is a symptom underlying various possible pathologies. The cardinal's state of health had been precarious and already marked by various symptoms, which were progressively worsening over the last decades of his life. The hypothesis of a stroke is also plausible. His death was not sudden as the Roman curial environments lead us to believe. 

Background Queen Christina of Sweden, a prominent Early Modern European character, died in Rome on April 19, 1689. The scarce literature published about her illness and death agrees about the cause of the death in the diagnosis of erysipelas, that did not appear externally with an ulcer, but became manifest in her blood, causing an inflammation of heart and lungs. The article underlines the essential contribution of the learned surgeons to the development of practical anatomy in the late Seventeenth century as illustrated by the specific case of the Queen's autopsy report by the court surgeon Alessio Spalla.

Methods The study is based on the analysis of the published literature and the comparison of archival sources as the anonymous report of the Queen's autopsy, preserved in Vienna and the unknown autopsy by Spalla, discovered in a private archive.

Results The comparison of Spalla's autopsy with the Viennese report of an anonymous practical doctor -suspected to be Marcello Malpighi-, who also participated in the Queen's dissection highlights how the two perspectives of investigation - the surgical-morphological and the medical-practical ones - are integrated in the theoretical and practical dimension of practical anatomy.

Conclusions The unpublished report of the surgeon Spalla integrates the knowledge of the queen's illness and death, stands as an example of a private autopsy performed by a court surgeon in the late Seventeenth-century Rome and as a case study on the development of new hybrid areas of knowledge, such as practical anatomy.

Background and aim: Court doctors have long been a neglected topic for medical historians as theyoften represent minor figures with a little editorial production at a scientific level, more relevant for the politicaland diplomatic role played at court rather than for their medical one. Only recently, medical historianshave understood their importance, starting to investigate the relationship between court medicine and themedical context of the society of the time. Among these still little-known figures, to whom historiography ispaying attention, there is Cesare Macchiati (1629-1675), a doctor at the Roman court of Queen Christina ofSweden from 1659 to 1675. Materials and Methods: As a court doctor, Macchiati joined the Queen on twojourneys to Northern Europe, towards Sweden, respectively between 1660 and 1668, leaving about fifty letters,addressed to Cardinal Decio Azzolino Jr, as a documentation of these journeys. Results: From the studyof these letters, it is possible to deduce some biographical information on court medical practice, the queen’stemperament and illnesses and the circulation of a new medical knowledge at the court, which was favouredby the journey. Conclusions: The biography highlights how the role of a court doctor, which was consolidatedby the experience of the journey to Europe in Macchiati’s case, becomes a prerequisite for a professional riseon his return to Rome in the most important city medical institutions, such as the university, the Romanmedical college at the pontifical curia, characterized by a cosmopolitan context thanks to the internationalprofessional background, developed at the Queen’s court.

L’articolo indaga la figura complessa e poliedrica di Cristina di Svezia, regina che, dopo l’abdicazione al trono scandinavo, ricostruì a Roma una nuova identità politica e culturale. La tradizione e la storiografia le hanno attribuito molteplici immagini: regina eretica convertita al cattolicesimo, sovrana senza regno, alchimista, ma soprattutto “Minerva del Nord”, patrona delle arti, delle lettere e delle scienze. È questa immagine, sapientemente coltivata da Cristina stessa, che emerge come centrale nell’analisi: un modello di sovrana intellettuale che trasforma il patronage culturale in strumento di legittimazione e di influenza politica. Attraverso fonti archivistiche e letterarie, si ricostruiscono le reti di protezione e le strategie di mecenatismo, con particolare attenzione al sostegno offerto alle scienze mediche e alla vita intellettuale romana. L’approccio interdisciplinare adottato mostra come Cristina seppe convertire la marginalità politica in centralità culturale, facendo della sua corte un crocevia europeo di diplomazia, erudizione e spettacolo, e ponendo così le basi di una memoria che la consacrò regina di Roma.

Recensione al volume illustrato Lo Stoccafisso: dalle Lofoten a Fermo.

The controversial historical figure of the Queen Christina of Sweden attracted the attention of medical historiography mainly from an anthropological perspective during the second half of the Twentieth century in Sweden. Even though these first investigations were born in the cultural context of historical revisionism of the Queen’s figure, they still represent the essential point of departure to be considered by the medical historians. The recent Italian studies focused on the Queen’s court physicians opened new perspectives and new sources for a more objective medical historical investigation.