Part of the Calvi di Bergolo family, he was born in Imperia in 1617 and was parish priest of St. John the Baptist, in that city. He moved to Rome in 1655, where he was Apostolic Prothonotary and Consistorial Advocate, dean of the patron lawyers in the College of the Apostolic Palace. He left his substantial inheritance to the College of the Fathers of the Pious Schools, for a boarding school to be built in his hometown.