Bettino Ricasoli, 2nd Baron Ricasoli

Baron Bettino Ricasoli (1809–1880), known as the 'Iron Baron' (Il Barone di Ferro) for his incorruptible moral rigidity, was an Italian statesman who was a leading protagonist of the Italian Risorgimento. Head of one of Tuscany's oldest noble families, Ricasoli devoted decades to modernizing viticulture at his ancestral estate, Castello di Brolio, where in 1872 he famously invented the definitive grape blend for Chianti Classico wine.

As dictator and governor-general of Tuscany in 1859 following the expulsion of the Habsburg Grand Duke, Ricasoli firmly refused regionalist compromise and orchestrated the plebiscite that united Tuscany with the Kingdom of Sardinia under Victor Emmanuel II. Following Camillo Cavour's sudden death in June 1861, Ricasoli succeeded him as Prime Minister of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, annexing southern provinces and incorporating Garibaldi's volunteers into the regular Italian Army.