His father was Giacomo Vitaliani, ambassador of Padua to Venice, and his mother Margherita was of the prosperous family of Borromeo.

According to one story, as a young man he was running out of money, and sold all his possessions to buy donkeys with covers embroidered with a camel sitting atop a basket, symbolizing his poverty.

His rich but stingy uncle, Giovanni Borromeo, had previously denied his requests for money, but was so amused by this act designed to impress him that he allowed Vitaliano to enter his house.

[4] As a staunch Ghibelline, he hosted a conspiracy in February 1449 against the dictator Carlo Gonzaga, led by his friends Giorgio Lampugnano and Teodoro Bossi.

[5] While in Arona over the summer, he managed to purchase Angera from the Visconti for 12,800 Imperial lire, giving him mastery of all Lake Maggiore.