According to Salimbene, who brought Filippo the news of Pope Urban IV's death on 2 October 1264, Filippo hoped to be elected pope. He was not, but the next pope, Clement IV, appointed him apostolic legate with a wide remit across northern Italy in 1267: his legation covered Lombardy, Romagna, the March of Treviso, the patriarchates of Aquileia and Grado, plus the cities of Ravenna, Milan, Genoa and Dubrovnik with their dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces. His task was to organize an alliance to prevent Conradin, then in Germany, from making his way to Sicily, which he claimed by hereditary right.
