Francesco Buonvisi e la preparazione del congresso di Nimega. La Santa Sede tra mediazione ed esclusione dalle trattative di pace

On 20 July 1675, Francesco Buonvisi received the appointment as ordinary nuncio to the court of Vienna. This task had been entrusted to the lucchese thanks to its brilliant and effective nunciature covered in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. The objective of this new task for Buonvisi was to induce Leopold I of Habsburg to quickly reach peace with Louis XIV and then push the emperor to fight the Turkish threat in Hungary. In this complex political-diplomatic framework, the pope wanted to participate in the peace congress as mediator, but it was essential that the negotiations take place in a city of Catholic faith. For this reason, the proposal of the “heretic” Nijmegen as a possible town for the negotiation had to be absolutely avoided. Furthermore, Clement X wanted Venice to be associated with the pontifical mediation, but this proposal had found opposition from the Spanish court. To achieve these purposes, the Holy See relied on the work of its ordinary and extraordinary nuncios, among whom the figure of Francesco Buonvisi stood out, not by chance sent to a court, the imperial one, which was the keystone in the projects of Rome