Philip Mazzei, born in 1730 into a land owning family in Poggio a Cajano, in the then Florentine territory of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, now a province of Prato. He studies medicine in Florence and, after a happy period spent as a doctor in Smyrne, moves to London, where along with his business associate Martini, sets himself up as an importer of Italian made produce. There he soon establishes himself as one of the Italian community’s most important representatives and as a consequence is accepted into the highest social circles. The young Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo, turns to Mazzei to acquire for him some special stoves which were the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin.
It is this occasion that allows Mazzei to get to know and forge a close friendship with the American politician and scientist, who convinces him to make the move to the New World.
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Philip Mazzei, oil on canvas
by Jacques-Louis David |
Soccer game in Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
On his return to Italy, Mazzei loads a ship up with seeds, work tools, food products and various bits of furniture and books; and in 1773 departs from Livorno (Leghorn) and sets course for America, accompanied by his business partner Martini’s French widow, her daughter Peggy, a group of Tuscan peasants and a tailor.
He will choose Virginia as his adopted homeland. George Washington, to whom he was recommended by Franklin, will receive him and Thomas Jefferson and will offer him lodgings. Thomas Jefferson will become one of his greatest friends and Mazzei will then set himself up on his property, on a place to be known as “Colle”. He will then, after a brief time, marry the widow Martini so as to not find himself on the wrong side of the American puritanical mentality; intolerant of what appears to be a scandalous cohabitation.
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Villa Medici, G.da Sangallo
(1445-1516), Poggio a Caiano |
Mazzei meets Washington, port of Charlestown, 1773
Mazzei immediately sets himself to work: he starts cultivating olives, grapes, mulberry and above all starts to sow the fifty-day corn which, as its name implies, matures after fifty days, between July and August; known from then on as “Mazzei’s corn”. To encourage these new crops, along with friends Washington, Jefferson and others, Mazzei founds an “Agricultural Society”.
But of far more importance is the contribution he will give in the drawing up of the Declaration of Independence.
His relationship with Jefferson is very close.
The future third president of the United States will also remain a lifelong fan of Italian tailoring, to the point where he prefers above everything else in his wardrobe his made-to-measure velvet suit.
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Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello |
Battle Redcoats with America patriots, Williamsburg, 1775
With friends and associates of such high calibre the attraction to politics is inevitable: under the alias of “Furious” he publishes numerous revolutionary tracts and sends out a series of articles on guiding the laws for the American Revolution in the Virginia Gazette. His contribution to American democratic culture is considerable: he trumpeted, in fact, the equality of man, he believed in the division between Church and State and fought against the death penalty, by spreading throughout his network of friends Cesare Beccarla’s work “On Crimes and Punishments”.
The disagreement between the American colonies and England grows ever more bitter and Mazzei renders an important service to his adopted country both by competently and passionately carrying out his given role of delegate politician for the county of Albemarle, but also by participating alongside the young James Monroe and other patriots in armed skirmishes with the English “redcoats”.
John Blair’s home “Constitutional Society, june 1784
As proof of the high esteem that Mazzei is held in the State of Virginia entrusts to him the role of keeping alive the colonies’ cause for freedom in Europe: with this important and explicit mandate Mazzei embarks for the Old Continent, where he will remain for the rest of his days, succeeding in giving the American patriots vital support with various forms of propaganda, including the essay titled “Historical and Political studies on United States of North America”.
This great Italian, who will die in 1816 in Pisa, in addition to the esteem and friendships he shares with the Founding Fathers of the United States, will enjoy the admiration of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France in much the same way as he will be admired by the King of Poland Stanislao Augusto Poniatowski, who will want him as chamberlain of his kingdom.
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Commendation to Mazzei
from PolandÕs king |
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