Italian physician, merchant, horticulturalist and close friend of President Thomas Jefferson, Philip Mazzei was born on December 25, 1730, in Poggio a Caiano (Prato) in Tuscany. Mazzei studied medicine in Florence and worked as a doctor in Italy and the Middle East before finding work as a merchant in London in 1755. While in London he taught Italian and befriended Benjamin Franklin and other Americans, who encouraged him to correspond with Thomas Jefferson. While talking to Franklin, Mazzei told him about his idea to import Tuscan wine and olive trees to America. Franklin supported the idea and encouraged him to follow through. So on September 2, 1773, Mazzei set sail for Virginia with plants, seeds, silkworms, and 10 farmers. Mazzei had been granted two separate tracts of land from the Virginia Legislature. Jefferson encouraged him to settle in Albemarle County and gave him a piece of land on his Monticello plantation. Together they established the first commercial vineyard in Virginia. As close neighbors, Jefferson and Mazzei visited each other often. Jefferson gave Mazzei an early draft of the Declaration of Independence and used Mazzei’s own writing for inspiration for the Virginia constitution. (It’s been suggested that the phrase “All men are created equal” came from Mazzei.)