Sixtus V was born Felice Peretti in 1521 in Grottammare, Italy. From modest beginnings, he entered the Franciscan order and rose to prominence as a preacher, administrator and cardinal. Elected pope in 1585, he set out to impose order both on the Papal States and on the government of the Catholic Church.
Sixtus V dealt harshly with crime and administrative disorder, reorganised finances and strengthened central church government. In 1588 he restructured the Roman Curia into fifteen permanent congregations, each with defined responsibilities. He also transformed the appearance of Rome. Roads were laid out, the water supply improved and ancient obelisks raised in prominent new locations. The relocation of the obelisk in St Peter's Square in 1586 was one of the most celebrated engineering achievements of his reign.
His style of government was energetic but frequently ruthless and controversial. At the same time, he helped shape Rome into the monumental capital of a renewed Catholic world. Sixtus V died in 1590, after a pontificate of just five years. He left a strikingly visible legacy: a more closely organised administration and an urban landscape that still reflects many of his ambitions
