RIVAROLA, AGOSTINO. — Cardinal, born in Genoa on 14 March 1758, died in Rome on 7 November 1842. He entered the Roman Curia at a very young age, where he held important offices. Governor of Sanseverino in 1793, apostolic protonotary at the Conclave of Venice in 1800, delegate of Perugia, and prolegate of Macerata, in 1808 he suffered six months of imprisonment for having proclaimed his fidelity to the Pontiff in opposition to the Napoleonic usurpation.
In 1814 he was entrusted with the task of taking possession of Rome and of a large part of the restored Papal States in the name of Pius VII. A convinced absolutist, he imparted particular severity to his government, in contrast with the conciliatory instructions sent to him by Cardinal Consalvi from Vienna, where he was participating in the Congress. Relieved of his functions upon Consalvi’s return, the cardinal’s promotion, which followed on 1 October 1817, appeared less a reward than the end of R.’s political activity; indeed, he withdrew into the background for approximately seven years. Leo XII, firmly determined to suppress sectarian activity in the Romagne, sent R. to Ravenna in 1824 with full powers to rid the Legations of secret societies. R. carried out the mission entrusted to him with inflexible zeal, and his name remained linked to the trial that concluded on 31 August 1825 against hundreds of defendants from the Legations and the Marches,
precisely when similar trials were being held in Lombardy-Venetia against Federico Confalonieri and the Milanese and Brescian Federati. There were 513 condemned in all, seven of them to capital punishment; but a measure of clemency immediately followed, whereby all the sentences imposed by the special tribunal were commuted and reduced.
Despite this, R. was struck by sectarian vengeance: on 23 July 1826, in Ravenna, he was the target of an attempt on his life, from which he emerged unharmed, while Canon Muti, standing at his side, was killed. This and other acts of bloodshed gave rise to the so-called Invernizzi trial, named after the prelate who directed it, and it concluded on 26 April 1828 with five executions. After a brief stay in Genoa, R. returned to Rome, where he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation of Waters and Roads. Michele Rosi gives the following judgment of him: «A convinced conservative and pious priest, he showed courage not always joined to prudence; he was severe in demanding respect for the laws and the orders of his superiors, but was also inclined to clemency».