FERRETTI, PIETRO. - Economist and politician, b. in Ancona on 15 July 1790, d. in Florence on 1 April 1858. Brother of Cardinal Gabriele and cousin of Pius IX, in his youth he held various political offices. In '31 he took part in the provisional government of Ancona, after which he went into exile in Marseilles and then in Geneva in harsh poverty.
Having later moved to Naples, to stay with his brother who was in charge of that nunciature, he joined him in Rome in 1847, when Gabriele became Secretary of State, and at that time rendered valuable services to the pontifical government. In 1848 he was recalled to Naples, as deputy and minister of Finance, for which he underwent criminal proceedings at the time of the absolutist restoration of the Bourbons: acquitted, he was nevertheless denied residence in the kingdom, so that he had to settle in Florence and there devoted himself, with scant success, to commercial enterprises.
Bound in friendship with Mazzini, Pellegrino Rossi and Capponi, he died on the eve of going to reside in London, where a brilliant position had been offered to him.
Bibliography
Renzo U. Montini