Ricasoli, Family

RICASOLI, FAMILY. - It was originally a branch of the Firidolfi, which took its name from a castle enfeoffed in 1187 to RANIERI.

In the 14th century LUCA (d. 1383) supported the uprising of the Ciompi. ANGIOLO (d. 1403) was bishop of Sora, then of Aversa and in 1370 of Florence, an office he had to renounce in 1383 because it was forbidden to magnates. He finally held the bishopric of Faenza. In 1393 the Ricasoli had to enroll as commoners and give up their name, calling themselves Bindacci, then Fibindacci; they took the name back in 1434. In general the Ricasoli followed the fortunes of the Medici. BETTINO (1433-86) fought against the Aragonese in the war of 1478 between Florence and Sixtus IV. SIMONE (1460-1527) accompanied Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici to Rome and was appointed papal treasurer by him once he became Leo X. BINDACCIO (d. 1524) was a disciple of Marsilio Ficino. GIOVAN BATTISTA (1504-72), a canon in the Florentine metropolitan church, received the bishopric of Cortona in 1538. The duke sent him as ambassador to Charles V, to Henry II and to Paul IV, who, after having at first been hostile to him, later requested him as resident in Rome. In 1560 he was appointed bishop of Pistoia, an office in which he was succeeded by his kinsman SIMONE (d. 1597). PANDOLFO (1581-1657), a man of very vast culture, but of dissolute morals which he sought to contest with heretical distortions of Catholic doctrine, was condemned by the Inquisition to perpetual imprisonment (cf. G. Spini, Ricerca dei libertini, Rome 1950). ORAZIO CESARE (1604-74) was among Galileo's favorite pupils. GIOVANNI FRANCESCO (1618-73) was captain of galleys and a knight of the Order of Malta; MATTEO (1626-71) admiral of the Order of St. Stephen. ANTONIO GIUSEPPE (1740-83) was a friend and collaborator of the bishop of Pistoia and Prato, Scipione de' Ricci. In the 19th century mention should be made of LEOPOLDO, a supporter of the Catholic press, ORAZIO, who took part in the campaigns of 1848 and 1849, VINCENZO, who in addition to those fought in the Crimea and in the wars of 1859-60, and finally the most famous BETTINO (v. below), minister of the Kingdom.

Roberto Palmarocchi

BETTINO RICASOLI

Tuscan statesman, b. in Florence on 9 March 1809, d. in the castle of Brolio (Siena) on 23 Oct. 1880.

A man of action rather than of thought, of authoritarian character, extremely strict with himself and with others; in politics he was always a moderate liberal; sincerely religious, he nevertheless had some ill-defined tendency toward a "reform" of Catholicism.

In his youth he devoted himself to the study of natural sciences, then, having retired to Brolio, he set about a complete transformation of the systems of cultivation, aiming at the same time at the elevation of the moral and social conditions of his own peasants. In 1847 he was already considered one of the leaders of the Tuscan moderate group and with Lambruschini and Salvagnoli he founded La Patria with an Italian program and without the usual aversion to Piedmont. In the same year he went on a mission to Charles Albert for the mediation of the diplomatic conflict between Tuscany and Modena. Gonfalonier of Florence in 1848, he left office at the end of the year while his attempts of Aug. and Oct. to form a ministry during the frequent government crises had proved vain. In Apr.-May 1849 he took part in the governmental Commission that had assumed power after the fall of Guerrazzi, but the Austrian occupation, the direction of the new government, and the attitude of the Grand Duke estranged him from the restored regime. Having gone to Switzerland, he devoted himself entirely to the education of his daughter; then, after the death of his wife Anna Bonaccorsi (1852), he returned to agricultural and industrial enterprises, especially in the Maremma. An open profession of faith in the unity of Italy under the Savoy dates from 1855. With national views he collaborated with the Committee of the Civil Library of the Italian (1857-59), but on the eve of 27 April 1859, for fear of a demagogic revolution, he took part in the last-ditch attempts to save the moderate group in favor of the House of Lorraine. Once the regime fell, he became Minister of the Interior in May, and with imperious will he set about overcoming the hesitations of his colleagues regarding the union of Tuscany with Piedmont. Having assumed the direction of the government after Villafranca, he did not change policy and thus arrived at the hoped-for union through the plebiscite of March 1860.

After the death of Cavour, he was president of the Council and, in addition to concerning himself with administrative reform in a centralizing sense, he attempted the solution of the Roman question. The King's antipathy for R.'s moral rigorism and the anticlerical spirit of the time helped to create an atmosphere of distrust around him. He resigned in 1862. Having returned to power again in 1866, he anxiously followed the unfortunate military campaign, then resumed negotiations for the Roman Question, deluding himself that, with the solution of the problem, he might stir up a regenerating movement of the Catholic Church. Having failed once again in the attempt, he resigned definitively in 1867.

Sergio Camerani