He was born into nobility, the son of Palatine Count Liverotto Ferretti and Flavia Sperelli.

He resigned pastoral government of his archdiocese in 1842 and was appointed Prefect of the Sacred Consulta of Indulgences and Relics in 1843.

Ferretti participated in the Papal Conclave of 1846, which elected Pope Pius IX and in the same year was appointed legate in the provinces of Urbino and Pesaro.

In the years following, he was appointed to a number of senior positions in the Catholic Church including: Ferretti died on 13 September 1860 in Rome.

Pope Pius IX (whom he had helped to elect) participated in his funeral and he was buried, according to his will, in the Capuchin church of the Santissima Concezione in Rome.