Ruspoli - The Origins of The Ruspoli Family in Florence

The Origins of The Ruspoli Family in Florence

There are traces of members of the Ruspoli family from the 13th Century on the tomb stones in the churches of Ognisanti and of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

Some of its members, in chronological order:

• Lorenzo Ruspoli – Florentine Noble — lived in early 13th century.

• Neri Ruspoli – Chief Ghibellin – in 1266 the Guelphs burned down his house in Florence.

• Ser Bonaccorso Ruspoli — Notary in Florence and Ghino Ruspoli — lived in 1304

• Roberto Ruspoli — lived in mid 14th Century

• Giovanni Ruspoli – born in 1363 – Gonfaloniere and Prior in 1391 — built the gentilizia chappel in Ognissanti church.

• Roberto Ruspoli and Zanobi Ruspoli – lived in 1391

• Lorenzo Ruspoli – born in 1384 – Praetor of Begonia in 1432 — Praetor of Piccioli in 1460 – Gonfaloniere of Florence

• Giovanni Ruspoli – born on April 25, 1420 – Buried in Ognissanti — Marries 1) Maddalena Buti 2) Bartolomea Paffi

• Lorenzo Ruspoli – born in 1460 – comparticipant of Amerigo Vespucci – Marries Alessandra da Magguale

It is Bartolomeo, son of the above mentioned Lorenzo, that the family moved away from the imperial Ghibellines and came closer to the Vatican State.

Bartolomeo Ruspoli was born in Florence in 1496. He formed a business partnerships with the Altoviti family, who were influential wool traders and bankers. In 1529 Bartolomeo travelled to Rome where he married Maria Ardinghelli niece of Cardinal Niccolò Ardinghelli, an influential member of the Farnese fraction and an intimate associate of Alessandro Farnese, future Pope Paul III. The Ruspoli were thus integrated into the Roman Curia and the papal court, and Bartolomeo’s children, both sons and daughters, were all married into families of the Roman nobility: Muti, Cavalieri and Floridi. In 1531 Bartolomeo Ruspoli was named Petitioner of the apostolic letters by Pope Clement VII. In 1535 he was made Prior of Florence.

Gradually, and certainly by the seventeenth century, the Ruspoli had lost their identity as Florentine merchants and bankers, referring to themselves exclusively as Roman nobles.