2 July 2009
Tuscan Hero of American Independence to be Honored July 4th
A Tuscan “Hero of the American Revolution” will be honored by American and Tuscan officials American Independence Day, July 4th, in the town of his birth, Poggio a Caiano.
A plaque and a restored bust of Philip Mazzei will be unveiled in a ceremony scheduled to be attended by United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad Chairman Warren L. Miller, Province of Prato President Lamberto Gestri, Poggio a Caiano Mayor Marco Martini, U.S. Consul General in Florence Mary Ellen Countryman, and other Tuscan officials. The ceremony will begin at 11 AM in the Poggio a Caiano City Council Hall.
The U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad identified Mazzei as one of 22 “Foreign-born Heroes of the American Revolution” in a survey of foreign sites associated with the lives of the heroes done for the U.S. Congress.
The report prompted the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit headed by New York State Supreme Court Justice Dominic R. Massaro to donate initial funding for a plaque honoring Mazzei in Poggio a Caiano. Further funding for the plaque and bust was provided by the U.S. Commission and the Tuscan-American Association.
In commenting on the project, U.S. Commission Chairman Miller said that, “The ties between America and Italy run deep because of the many Italians who immigrated to America. The bonds are stronger, though, because of our shared commitment to the values of liberty and democracy which Philip Mazzei promoted.”
Mazzei’s thoughts on freedom influenced Thomas Jefferson, the author of the American Declaration of Independence. The two became friends after Mazzei settled near Jefferson in the British colony of Virginia. As Governor of Virginia after the Declaration, Jefferson asked Mazzei to return to Tuscany to borrow funds from the grand duke and gather intelligence. Later, Mazzei wrote an extensive history of the American colonies which served as a counterweight to British and French propaganda.
