RICASOLI, BETTING, BARON (1809-80), Italian statesman, born at Broglio March 19, 1809. In 1847 he founded the journal La Patria, and sent to the grand duke of Tus cany a memorial suggesting remedies for the difficulties of the state. In 2848 he was for a short time gonfaloniere of Florence. As Tuscan minister of the interior in 1859 he promoted the union of Tuscany with Piedmont. Elected Italian deputy in 1861, he succeeded Cavour in the premiership. As premier he admitted the Garibaldian volunteers to the regular army, revoked the decree of exile against Mazzini, and attempted reconciliation with the Vatican; but his efforts were rendered ineffectual by the non possumus of the pope. He found himself obliged in 1862 to resign office, but returned to power in 1866. On this occasion he refused Napoleon III.'s offer to cede Venetia to Italy, on condi tion that Italy should abandon the Prussian alliance, and also refused the Prussian decoration of the Black Eagle because Lamarmora, author of the alliance, was not to receive it. After
the French troops left Rome in 1866 he attempted to conciliate the Vatican with a convention, in virtue of which Italy would have restored to the Church the property of the suppressed re ligious orders in return for the gradual payment of £24,000,000. He conceded the exequatur to 45 bishops inimical to the Italian. regime. The Vatican accepted his proposal, but the Italian Cham ber proved refractory, and, though dissolved by Ricasoli, returned more hostile than before. Without waiting for a vote, Ricasoli resigned office. He died at Broglio on Oct. 23, 1880. His private life and public career were marked by a rigid austerity which earned him the name of the "iron baron." See Tabarrini and Gotti, Lettere e documenti del barone Bettino Ricasoli, Io •cols. (Florence, 1886-94) ; Passerini, Genealogia e storia della famiglia Ricasoli 0860 ; Gotti, Vita del barone Bettino Ricasoli (1894) •