an Italian and Florentine nobleman and conspirator. During the early years of Elizabeth's reign he began to take a more active part in politics, associating with the discontented Roman Catholics in England and communicating with their friends abroad. In 1570, he set to work on a plot against the Elizabeth I which usually bears his name: the Ridolfi plot. Afterwards he served the Pope, but much of his later life was spent in Florence, where he became a senator, and where he died on February 18, 1612.
