Ristori's exact birthplace is uncertain and could be Bologna, Venice or Vienna; his father Tommaso was the director of a group of Italian comedians who shortly after Ristori's birth were in the service of the Elector Johann Georg III of Saxony.

Ristori's early career is dominated by Italian opera; Ristori' connection to Dresden began in 1715 when he and his wife accompanied his parents there.

By 1717 he was appointed composer to the Italian comedians directed by his father; coincidentally he was also to become the first director of the Polish Kapelle with a salary of 600 thalers.

In 1719-1720 Ristori and his father were spared in the expulsion of Italian performers from the Dresden court.

In 1738-1739 Ristori accompanied the princess Maria Amalia and her husband, Charles III, King of the Two Sicillies to Italy where he directed Temistocle and Adriano in Siria at the new Teatro San Carlos in Naples.

We next discover Ristori in Dresden where he composed three masses which earned him the appointment in 1746 of "Kirchen compositeur" (Church composer), a position formerly held by Johann Sebastian Bach and Jan Dismas Zelenka.

In 1747 the Princess Maria Antonio arrived in Dresden following her marriage to the Crown prince Friederich Christian.

Ristori set several of her texts as cantatas; by 1750 Ristori was rewarded for his many years service by being appointed Vice-Kapellmeister under Hasse and his last known work, a Mass in C is dated as 1752.