Italian nobleman, head of the House of Medici as Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I. The greatest cultural achievement in Florence during Ferdinando’s reign was the introduction of opera to Europe.
Ferdinando was the fifth son (the third surviving at the time of his birth) of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleanor of Toledo, the daughter of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca, the Spanish viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples.
At Rome, he proved an able administrator. He founded the Villa Medici in Rome and acquired many works of art (including the Medici lions), which he brought back to Florence.
When his brother Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, died in 1587, Ferdinando succeeded as grand duke at the age of 38. In many ways, Ferdinando was the opposite of his brother. Approachable and generous, he set out to rule mildly. He re-established the justice system and was genuinely concerned about the welfare of his subjects. During his reign, Tuscany revived and regained the independence his brother had ceded.
Ferdinando fostered commerce and gained great wealth through the Medici banks, which were established in all the major cities of Europe. He enacted an edict of tolerance for Jews and heretics, and Livorno became a haven for Spanish Jews as well as other persecuted foreigners. He established the Medici Oriental Press (Typographia Medicea), which published numerous books in the Arabic script.
He improved the harbor Cosimo I had built and diverted part of the flow of the Arno River into a canal called the Naviglio, which aided commerce between Florence and Pisa.
He married Christina of Lorraine in 1589 and they had nine children. Ferdinando died on 3 February 1609 at age 59 in Florence. His first child, Cosimo (1590–1621), succeeded him as Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Link to Wikipedia biography