Editing Christina, Queen of Sweden (section)

=== Palazzo Farnese ===
[[File:Letters 1666 1668 Queen Christina to Decio Azzolino National Archives Sweden K394 038 297.png|thumb|upright|Letter from Queen Christina to Decio Azzolino in the [[National Archives of Sweden]]]]

Christina finally settled down in the [[Palazzo Farnese]], which belonged to the [[Duke of Parma]]. Every Wednesday she held the palace open to visitors from the higher classes who kept themselves busy with poetry and intellectual discussions. Christina opened an academy in the palace on 24 January 1656, called [[Academy of Arcadia]], where the participants enjoyed music, theater, and literature. The poet [[Reyer Anslo]] was presented to her. Belonging to the Arcadia-circle was also [[Francesco Negri (travel writer)|Francesco Negri]], a Franciscan from [[Ravenna]] who is regarded as the first tourist to visit [[North Cape, Norway]].{{efn|Negri wrote eight letters about his walk through Scandinavia all the way up to "Capo Nord" in 1664.}} Another [[Franciscan]] was the Swede Lars Skytte, who, under the name pater Laurentius, served as Christina's confessor for eight years.{{efn|He too had been a pupil of Johannes Matthiae, and his uncle had been Gustavus Adolphus's teacher. As a diplomat in Portugal, he had converted and asked for a transfer to Rome when he learnt of Christina's arrival.}}

Twenty-nine-year-old Christina gave occasion to much gossip when socializing freely with men her own age. One of them was [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Decio Azzolino]], who had been a secretary to the ambassador in Spain, and responsible for the Vatican's correspondence with European courts.<ref name=bargrave>''Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals'' by [[John Bargrave]], edited by [[James Craigie Robertson]] (reprint; 2009)</ref> He was also the leader of the ''[[Squadrone Volante]]'', the [[free-thinking]] "Flying Squad" movement within the Catholic Church. Christina and Azzolino were so close that the pope asked him to shorten his visits to her palace, but they remained lifelong friends. In a letter on 26 January 1676<ref>D. Lanoye, p. 157.</ref> to Azzolino Christina writes (in French) that she would never offend God or give Azzolino reason to take offense, but this "does not prevent me from loving you until death, and since piety relieves you from being my lover, then I relieve you from being my servant, for I shall live and die as your slave." As he had promised to remain celibate, his replies were more reserved.{{efn|Christina wrote him many letters during her travels. After her death, Azzolino burnt most of their correspondence; about 80 have survived. Some details were written in a code that was decrypted by [[Carl Bildt (1850–1931)|Carl Bildt]], in Rome around 1900.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://livrustkammaren.se/en/exhibitions/christinas-letters|title=Christina's letters|access-date=10 July 2017|archive-date=21 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621011306/http://livrustkammaren.se/en/exhibitions/christinas-letters|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} In the meantime Christina learned that the Swedes had confiscated all her revenue as the princess had become a Catholic.
<!--At times, things got a bit out of hand. On one occasion the couple had arranged to meet at the [[Villa Medici]] near [[Monte Pincio]], but the cardinal did not show up. Christina hurried over to [[Castel Sant'Angelo]], firing one of the [[cannon]]s. The mark in the bronze gate in front of Villa Medici is still visible.<ref>Ola Åmodt: ''Roma – legender og merkverdigheter''</ref>--><!--Perhaps the most illustrious of the eminent figures befriended and patronized by Christina was the sculptor-architect-painter, [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]], the greatest artistic genius of the century, to whom the queen showed the highest of personal honors by visiting his home-studio on more than one occasion. "Whoever does not esteem Bernini is not worthy of esteem himself," she is quoted as saying by [[Domenico Bernini]] in his biography, ''The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.''<ref>Ed. and trans. by Franco Mormando, Penn State University Press, 2011, p. 175. For Christina's friendship with Bernini, see Franco Mormando, ''Bernini: His Life and His Rome'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), pp. 218-26.</ref>-->