It was late morning on 13 October 1534 when Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo stepped up to the open window at the Vatican Palace. Looking out over the assembled crowd below, he raised his voice in proclamation of the time-honoured formula: ‘I announce to you tidings of great joy: we have a pope! The Most Reverend Lord Alessandro, Bishop of Ostia, Cardinal Farnese, who has taken the name of Paul III.’ The crowd erupted. This was the first time in over a hundred years that one of their own, a Roman, had claimed the papal tiara. Soon after, the cheering rose higher as the familiar figure of Farnese was carried high through the crowd on the portable throne, the sedia gestatoria, to give his first blessing as pope. Church bells rang across the city and canons fired in salute.

Having been a cardinal for forty-one years, Alessandro Farnese was known throughout Rome and was regarded highly for his nobility and magnificence, for his learning and elegance, and for his patronage and generosity. As Dean of the College of Cardinals he was well-respected by his peers among whom he had crafted broad alliances. These had served him well going into the conclave which saw his election within two days, one of the shortest conclaves in the Renaissance. This outcome of the election had been widely anticipated and now that it had been swiftly confirmed, the excitement about the coming pontificate spread rapidly.