Filippo II Colonna, 9th Duke and Prince of Paliano, was an Italian nobleman of the prominent Colonna family.
Background
Filippo was the son of Don Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna, hereditary Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples, and Maria Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. In 1687, while his father served as head of the interregnum council of Naples, Filippo was appointed commander of a company of lancers.
Career
The Spanish had ruled Naples since the early sixteenth century, and the Colonna were prominent servants of the Spanish crown in Italy. In 1689 he succeeded his father as Grand Constable and Duke-Prince of Paliano. As a patron of the arts, Filippo had the art gallery in the family"s Roman palazzo refurbished.
He opened the gallery in 1703.
The composer Giovanni Bononcini wrote six serenatas, an oratorio and five operas while in his service (1692–1697). Among his other titles, Filippo was Prince of Castiglione, and Duke of Marino, Miraglia and Tagliacozzo.
In 1710 he became the first Colonna to be appointed hereditary Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne. Don Filippo married the Spanish aristocrat Lorenza de la Cerda in Madrid in 1681, but she died without issue in 1697.
The Prince suffered from painful bladder stones and diseased kidneys prior to his death in 1714.
Fabrizio also commissioned a tomb for his father in the church of Sant’ Andrea in the family seat of Paliano, which was executed by the sculptor Bernardino Ludovisi and installed in 1745.
Membership
Filippo was a member of the Academy of Arcadia, which had been established in Rome in 1690.