
During our Florence free tour we will tell many particular story about unique citizen of Florence that made an improvement in our life and in this world. Today we want tell the story of a man that was part of independence of USA. Filippo Mazzei one of father’s of USA. The name of Filippo Mazzei probably says little or nothing, but the importance of this man has been recognized not only by historians, but also by at least three American presidents. He was born on 25 December 1730 15 km from Florence, in the municipality of Poggio a Caiano. Although he never completed his studies, he improvised as a doctor in Pisa, Livorno, Constantinople and Smyrna. He later moved to London, where he lived about seventeen years as a merchant. It was then that he made friends with the likes of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. In 1773 he moved to Virginia, near Thomas Jefferson’s estate. Here he became passionate about the events of the Revolution, writing numerous articles translated by his neighbor, he also enlisted as a volunteer to fight against the English. On May 6, 1776, Mazzei published the “Instructions of the Proprietors of Albemarle County to their Delegates to the Convention.” On June 12 of that year the Convention adopted the “Virginia Bill of Rights.” Less than a month later, on July 4, 1776, representatives of the thirteen colonies met in General Congress in Philadelphia. A Declaration was adopted, which was later compared to Jefferson’s neighbor, Filippo Mazzei, who stated among other things: “We hold these Truths as certain. That all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…”. His thoughts and reflections thus ended up in the document of the founding of the United States of America: the Declaration of Independence. He became a friend of the first five US presidents and is counted among the “Founding Fathers of the United States”. John Fitzgerald Kennedy in his book A Nation of Immigrants stated: “The great doctrine ‘All men are created equal’ inserted in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from a writing by Filippo Mazzei, an Italian patriot and writer, who he was a close friend of Jefferson […]. This phrase appears in Italian from Mazzei’s hand, written in Italian, several years before the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei and Jefferson often exchanged ideas regarding true freedom and independence.” Having returned to Europe, Mazzei lived his last years in Pisa, where he died in 1816. In 1980, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of his birth, Italy and the United States paid homage to him with a special joint philatelic issue. To know more about Florence and history of his citizens that traveled all around the world and changed this world you can come to take a tour with us. We are organizing a Free Tour of Florence that start from Santa Maria Novella square