Editing Giulio Alberoni (section)

==Later years==
[[File:Cardinale Giulio Alberoni.jpg|thumb|Cardinal Giulio Alberoni]]
[[File:Dupuis Charles - Jules Alberoni -.jpg|thumb|Engraving of Cardinal Alberoni]]
Alberoni followed the order and left Spain for Italy. At [[Lleida]], his belongings were searched to ensure that no state papers were in his possession. After leaving Barcelona, he was plundered by bandits. His baggage was again searched at [[Narbonne]], by Customs officers under orders from the Chevalier de Marcieu, who had been ordered by the Regent of France to accompany Alberoni and extract whatever information he could from the Cardinal. Sailing for Italy, he was met at [[Sestri Levante]] in Genoese territory by a papal official, who forbade his entry into the Papal States, on penalty of imprisonment. When Alberoni retreated to Genoa, the Emperor and the Pope each tried to have him detained. On 19 March 1720, Clement XI appointed a Commission of Cardinals to try Alberoni: Albani, Astalli, Barberini, Bentivoglio, Conti, Corradini, Corsini, Fabroni, Paracciani, Paolucci, Scotti, Tanara, Tolomei, Vallemani, and Zondadari; they were joined by three other prelates: Alamanni, Marefoschi and Riviera. He escaped from arrest at Genoa, as the Genoese allowed him to go on his way, and found refuge at [[Castelnuovo Scrivia]], in Austrian territory in Lombardy.<ref name="AP">{{cite book |last1=Professione |first1=Alfonso |title=Il ministero in Spagna e il processo del Cardinale Giulio Alberoni |date=1897 |publisher=G. Gaspari |location=Torino}}</ref> On the death of Clement in 1721, Alberoni boldly appeared at the [[1721 papal conclave|conclave]], and took part in the election of [[Pope Innocent XIII|Innocent XIII]] (The cardinals voted to allow Alberoni to participate, but many of them refused to have anything to do with him personally), after which he was for a short time imprisoned in a monastery by the new pontiff on the demand of Spain on charges including [[sodomy]] ([[Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine|Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatine]] noted in her diaries that he was a [[pederast]]).<ref name="LC">{{cite book |last1=Cardella |first1=Lorenzo |title=Memorie Storiche de' Cardinali Della Santa Romana Chiesa |date=1792–97 |publisher=Pagliarini |location=Rome}}</ref><ref>Eugene Marie, "L'amore omosessuale", 1983</ref> He was ultimately cleared by a commission of his fellow Cardinals. At the [[1724 papal conclave|conclave]] that would elect [[Pope Benedict XIII]] (1724), Alberoni had been himself proposed for the papal chair and secured ten votes.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Alberoni received the titular church [[Sant'Adriano al Foro]] (a cardinal-deaconry) in 1724, and then was made Cardinal Priest of [[San Crisogono]] in 1728.

Benedict's successor, [[Pope Clement XII|Clement XII]] (elected 1730), named him legate of [[Ravenna]], where he erected the Porta Alberoni (1739), a magnificent gateway that formerly provided access to the city's dockyards, and has since been moved to the entrance of the Teatro Rasi.<ref>http://www.racine.ra.it/ravenna/english/keys/historical/porta_alberoni_uk.htm {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041112030139/http://www.racine.ra.it/ravenna/english/keys/historical/porta_alberoni_uk.htm |date=12 November 2004 }}; G. Cattanei, ''Il cardinale Giulio Alberoni e la sua esperienza di legato a Ravenna'', 2008.</ref> That same year, the strong and unwarrantable measures he adopted to subject the grand republic of [[San Marino]] to the papal states incurred the pope's displeasure and left a historical scar in that place's memory.<ref>[http://www.guardiadelconsiglio.sm/English/history.htm San Marino subjugation]</ref> He was soon replaced by another legate in 1740, the same year he was made Cardinal Protector of [[San Lorenzo in Lucina]]. He retired to [[Piacenza]], where in 1730 Clement XII appointed him administrator of the hospital of [[San Lazzaro e San Vincenzo De Paoli, Piacenza|San Lazzaro]], an institute founded in the medieval era for the benefit of [[leprosy|lepers]]. Since leprosy had nearly disappeared in Italy, Alberoni obtained the consent of the pope to suppress the hospital, which had fallen into great disorder, and replaced it with a seminary for the priestly education of seventy poor boys, under the name of the [[Collegio Alberoni]], which it still bears.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Collegio Alberoni's graduates include remarkable prelates such as [[Agostino Casaroli]], [[Silvio Oddi]], and [[Antonio Samorè]].