House of Borgia
Cardinal Borgia belonged to a well known family of Velletri, where he was born, and was a distant relative of the House of Borgia. His early education was controlled by his uncle Alessandro (1682–1764), Archbishop of Fermo. From his youth, Stefano Borgia manifested an aptitude for historical research and a taste for relics of ancient civilizations, a line in which he succeeded so well that, at the age of nineteen, he was received into the Academy of Cortona.