Selected Essay
The Gulf Coast Italian Culture Society (GCICS), in 2011, instituted the practice of having the Scholarship Committee select the best in class of the Essays submitted by the candidates in support of their scholarship application, for publication in the GCICS Scholarship Gala Program.
In the interest of sharing the talent of our scholarship recipients it was determined that the selected essay should also be posted on the Society’s website.
Recipient Francesca Tebbano, a graduate of North Port H.S., who now attends the University of Miami, FL, submitted the following essay on Filippo Mazzei, in 2011.
FILIPPO MAZZEI
By Francesca Tebano
When I researched Filippo Mazzei, he appealed to me because he was a physician, and I plan to become a physician. However, I was completely unaware of his behind-the-scenes role in America’s history. Were it not for this essay, I probably would never have known of Filippo Mazzei at all. If learned historians refer to him as an “Assisting Founding Father” and the Godfather of The Declaration of Independence,” why isn’t he in any of my school’s social studies books?
I was amazed to learn how many patriots he befriended: George Washington (who wrote thanking him for his expertise in establishing vineyards), James Monroe, Thomas Pain, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and his next-door neighbor, Thomas Jefferson with whom he had a 40-year friendship. Equally amazing was learning that many of their accomplishments stemmed from Mazzei’s actions or writings. Jefferson’s writing in The Declaration of Independence in 1776 that “All men are created equal” clearly reflects what Mazzei wrote in 1774 in the Virginia Gazette, “Tutti gli uomini sono per natura eugualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest’euguaglianza e` necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all’altro nel diritto naturale.” Jefferson, who was fluent in Italian, had translated this for Mazzei as, “All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government. All men must be equal to each other in natural law.”
A year before Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, a 1776 pamphlet encouraging colonists to fight for independence from Britain, Mazzei, using the penname “Furioso,” published articles advocating liberty for his adopted country. He referred to the colonies as his “adopted fatherland.”
Mazzei was so dedicated to America’s independence that he enlisted in the army; however, when Patrick Henry heard this, he persuaded Mazzei to use his intelligence and influence in Europe to garner support for the cause. Mazzei wrote letters to his influential friends in France, obtained naval support from the Netherlands and Spain, and solicited money from other European friends. Writing to Patrick Henry, John Adams said, “Mr. Mazzei has uniformly discovered in Europe an attachment and zeal for the American Honor and Interest, which would have become any native of our country.” Interestingly Mazzei’s daughter eventually married Adam’s nephew.
Throughout the rest of his life Mazzei worked to clarify the distorted views of his beloved America, publishing in 1788, in Paris The History and Politics of the United States, a four volume compendium still considered an accurate account of the U.S. revolutionary times. He spent his last years in Pisa, where he was known simply as Pippo l’ortolano, Phil the gardener.
There have been many efforts in the U.S. to acknowledge Mazzei’s contributions to its development as a nation: Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy reminded Americans of his contribution to Jefferson’s draft of The Declaration of Independence, and this was recognized, officially, by the 103rd Congress in Joint Resolution 175.
In 1980 The U.S. issued a stamp commemorating the 250th anniversary of Filippo Mazzei’s birth, calling him a “Patriot Remembered”. While my history books have forgotten him, I will always remember this founding father and, recalling his contributions, take more pride in my Italian heritage.
Heritage Note:
GCICS Pres. Wm. R. Korp has submitted the following update research nugget:
The Mazzei family survives in Italy and continues to produce wine at their villa, Castello di Fonterutoli, in the Chianti region of Tuscany, near Siena. In the latest year for which production has been disclosed, it shipped 738,000 bottles. The label on a bottle of "Ser Lapo" Chianti Reserva (which can be purchased at local Publix') shows the winery was established in 1435, more than 300 years before Mazzei sailed for the new world. Ser Lapo Mazzei (1350-1412) was the grandfather of Madonna Smeralda who married Piero di Agnolo from Fonterutoli whose property since 1435 has been in the Mazzei family.
More info can be obtained on the firm’s web site: www.mazzei.it/eng_135. Clicking on “The Present” option of “The Family” link tells us that the current management of the winery is headed by Lapo Mazzei and his two sons, one of whom, you guessed it, is also named Filippo. | 
