RINUCCINI FAMILY. - A noble Florentine family which in the 14th century carried on a profitable banking business with the Commune and the Papal Court. The Rinuccini, until the extinction of the family in the first half of the 19th century, counted among their members soldiers, diplomats, and men of letters.
Among the ecclesiastics was GIOVANNI BATTISTA R., born on 15 Sept. 1592 in Rome, died on 13 Dec. 1653 in Fermo. Secretary of the Congregation of Rites under Gregory XV, he was named Archbishop of Fermo in 1625.
After refusing the archbishopric of Florence in 1631, R. was sent as nuncio to Ireland in 1645. He found himself caught between the Old Irish Party and the Anglo-Irish Catholic Party, who feared having to restore church lands seized during the schism if the Catholic Church were publicly recognized in Ireland. R. attempted, but in vain, to safeguard the rights of Catholics in the face of various religious choices and the Anglican Church. His attitude, which was fundamentally opposed to any negotiation with Protestants, irritated the Supreme Council, where the Anglo-Irish were in the majority. On 2 March 1649 the nuncio left Ireland after declaring that the Holy See did not intend to be represented by nuncios in Protestant states.
GIOVANNI R. (1743-1801), after serving as vice-legate of Bologna and ponens of the Consulta, was promoted by Pius VI in 1789 to governor of Rome and vice-camerlengo, and was created cardinal-deacon on 21 Feb. 1794. Forced to leave Rome because of the French invasion, he took part in the Venetian conclave of 1799-1800.
OTTAVIO R. - Born in Florence in 1564, died there in 1621. He is considered the first librettist and holds a significant place in the history of Italian opera as a poet. He also stayed at the French court from 1601 to 1603. In the sacred genre he composed the *Versi cantati* in the Chapel of the Archduchess of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (Florence 1619) and the libretto for the *Festa del Magnifico* Gabriello.