458
SANTA MARIA NOVELLA.
accompanied Prince Francis (afterwards the Grand Duke
Francis I.) to Genoa, to do homage to Philip II., the son of
Charles V., and was sent to Flanders to demand succour
from Charles against the French, who were coming to the aid
of the Siennese, then besieged by Cosimo. From Flanders
Ricasoli proceeded to England, and was present at the marriage
of Philip to Queen Mary. He was afterwards employed at
Rome, on the death of Pope Paul III., to procure the election
of a pontiff favourable to M. dicean interests. In 1557, Cosimo
sent him to Henry II. of France, charged to administer a
poison, prepared by the Grand Duke himself, for his enemy,
Piero Strozzi. This design was frustrated by Catharine de
Medici, and Ricasoli had to take flight ; but from that time
forth he was known as the “Vescovo dell’ Ampollina ’—the
Bishop of the Poison-cup. The correspondence between
Cosimo and Ricasoli, when at the Court of Naples, still exists
among the archives of the Strozzi family. Ricasoli fulfilled
several other missions for Cosimo, but finding himself advanced
in years, he thought it best to provide for his soul ; and in 1561
took up his abode in Pistoia, to which see he had been
appointed the previous year, and devoted himself to his epi-
scopal duties. He died in 1572, and was buried in Santa
Maria Novella at Florence, where his nephews raised a monu-
ment to his memory. He was a patron of letters, and contributed
to the foundation of the Florentine Academy : his manners
were so attractive that he gained the affections of all connected
with him, and had friends amongst the most illustrious per¬
sonages of the day. When Charles V. bade him farewell, he
not only embraced him, but—a rare honour—kissed his cheek.
Turning into the eastern transept, there is a very interesting
portrait-bust of the Archbishop Antonino in terra-cotta. A
very ancient monument above this bust is to the memory of
Tedice Aliotti, a bishop of Fiesole, who died in 1336 ; the
monument is attributed to Tino di Camaino of Sienna. The
Genealogia e Storia della Famiglia Ricasoli—Luigi Passerini (1860).
