L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, school days for the fall se- mester have begun throughout Amer- ica and many chil- dren are learning US history for the first time. We little Italian American scholars often graduated from grammar schools, high schools and even universities thinking that it was only the Anglo-Sax- ons who made positive contribu- tions to our young Republic prior to and during the terms of our first three presidents: George Washington (1789-1797) John Adams (1797-1801) and Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809). The latter was an Italophile and good friend of Filippo Mazzei, or Philip Mazzei, as noted on the first-day- of-issue envelope of a commem- orative stamp issued in his honor in the Fall of 1980. Vice President Walter F. Mondale, present at the Smith- sonian Institute for the ceremony, said that the international Mazzei airmail stamp would "remind the world that when our country was just beginning, it was an Italian who helped draft one of the great documents of history." *** Philip Mazzei (1730-1816) in 1773 left Europe to begin a new life in the colony of Virginia and, in 1774, he formed the first com- pany to promote the production of wine and olive oil in the colony. Before Thomas Paine electri- fied the colonies with his pam- phleteering, Philip Mazzei was risking imprisonment with arti- cles for John Pinckney's Vir- ginia's Gazzette. Mazzei, an Ital- ian who left Europe in 1773 to begin a new life in Virginia, was a merchant, surgeon, horticultur- ist, writer, diplomat and political philosopher. He also met Ben- jamin Franklin while in London, and was an agent for the Franklin Stove in the colony of Pennsyl- vania. He also met many people from the colonies in London and began a correspondence with Vir- ginia landowner Thomas Jeffer- son. By 1773 he had moved to Virginia and bought a 400 acre tract of land to start an experi- mental farm adjacent to Jeffer- son's property. He also joined the local militia and served with the Madison Brothers. James Madi- son became president. Madison was a friend and admirer of Thomas Jefferson and was elected to succeed him as presi- dent in 1809. Mazzei collaborated with the leaders of Virginia on political ideas and plans, promoting American independence through writings published in America and in Europe, before the essays of Thomas Paine appeared. In 1779, Mazzei represented Vir- ginia in Europe and secured im- portant support there for the American Revolution. Mazzei's writings influenced many leading Virginians, Thomas Jefferson being one of them. Jefferson, who knew Ital- ian himself, was Mazzei's first and best friend in America. He sold Mazzei 2,000 acres of land, and they became neighbors. In an article written by Mazzei under his pen name of Furioso, translated by his close friend Thomas Jefferson, we find this sentence: "All men are by nature equally free and independent." It is believed that this may have in- spired Jefferson's immortal "All men are created equal," found in the Declaration of Independence. By the way, it is known that Jef- ferson sent Mazzei one of the first copies of the Declaration it- self. Mazzei traveled in Europe as Virginia's agent. He continued to defend the cause of his adopted country in newspapers, published pamphlets, and a four-volume history of the American colonies. Before and during the French Revolution he was in Paris as a diplomatic agent. Mazzei's role in eighteenth- century America was more than being friend with Thomas Jeffer- son, John Page, and Patrick Henry. He was a significant his- torical figure. His political inspi- ration predates the 1776 Decla- ration of Independence. *** That Thomas Jefferson was and Italophile was well known. Monticello, the home he had built after his marriage to Martha Skel at the top of one of his native Vir- ginia hills, was Italian inspired. The dining room fireplace is carved from Italian marble. The vaulted ceiling is directly inspired by the work of Andrea Palladio. The porcelain dinnerware on the long dining table was purchased in Italy and the adjoining tea room is a copy of a room found in Albano (Lazio). Jefferson's "man cave" or private haven at Monticello was his Tuscan style library, and the west front of Monticello, reminiscent of An- drea Palladio's Italian villas, fea- tures an octagon dome that Jef- ferson brought back to the United States from Rome. By the way, if you are ever in Virginia, Monticello — home of the author of the Declaration of Independence (with a little help from Filippo Mazzei, we've just learned) is open to the public. The World Heritage Site, historic house and plantation, museum, and presidential library is well worth a visit. A newly published book, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, with a collection of photographs, is available from the gift shop as is a tote with Jefferson's quotes "I cannot live without books" and "life without friends is like a gar- den without flowers."

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