In 1773, Filippo Mazzei arrived in Virginia with an ambitious plan to cultivate grapevines, olive trees and other European plants. The Tuscan physician, merchant and horticulturist could hardly have imagined that his new life in America would bring him close to Thomas Jefferson and into the heart of the political debate that preceded the country's independence. His story sheds light on a little-known Italian connection to the founding of the United States as the country celebrates the 250th Anniversary of its independence.

Born near Florence in 1730, Mazzei worked in London’s wine trade before emigrating to America. He became friends with Jefferson, who encouraged him to settle near Monticello, his estate outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Mazzei established a farm called Colle, but frost and financial difficulties undermined his agricultural venture. His time in Virginia, however, brought him into the political debate that would lead to independence. In 1774, as tensions between the colonies and the British Crown escalated, Mazzei published writings in the Virginia Gazette defending liberty and opposing British rule under the pseudonym “Furioso.”

One passage stated that “all men are by nature equally free and independent.” Originally written in Italian, the text was translated into English by Jefferson, who helped circulate it. Their relationship went beyond friendship: they shared political and intellectual interests, and Jefferson later drew an excerpt from another of Mazzei's writings while working on a proposed constitution for Virginia.

The similarities between Mazzei's words and the language of America's revolutionary documents have fueled historical debate. In 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights stated that “all men are by nature equally free and independent,” while Jefferson's Declaration of Independence famously proclaimed that “all men are created equal.” The chronology, the relationship between the two men and the textual parallels suggest that Mazzei's words may have contributed to the political debate of the time. They do not, however, prove that Jefferson directly borrowed the wording from him. Ideas about natural rights and equality circulated widely during the Enlightenment, and the extent of Mazzei's influence remains uncertain.

Mazzei's contribution to the American cause went beyond his writings. He supported the Revolution and, in 1779, undertook a mission to Europe on behalf of Virginia to seek financial support and gather political and military information. After a difficult journey, he returned to Virginia in 1783 and left the state permanently in 1785. He maintained ties with Jefferson and other leading figures in American politics until his death in Pisa in 1816. As the United States celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Mazzei's story offers a fresh perspective on the country's founding and its historical ties to Italy.

His relationship with Jefferson and his writings on liberty show how the American Revolution developed through an intellectual exchange that crossed the Atlantic. Mazzei also took part in Virginia's constitutional debate, but the available evidence does not establish that he directly influenced the U.S. Constitution, drafted in 1787 and effective from 1789. His story nevertheless shows how people and ideas from Italy took part in the wider political conversation that helped shape the new republic. The connection between Italy and the United States, in other words, reaches back to the earliest debates over liberty, rights and government that helped define the American experiment.