Fenzi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fenzi Bank and family were key players in both the economical growth of the Italian industrial revolution and the expansion of the north Italian Railways between Florence and Livorno in 18th and 19th century pre-democratic Italy.
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[edit] The family
The old florentine aristocratic family issued several generations of noteworthy citizens who enhanced and enabled many different aspects of both the Florentine political life and economical market during the 17th 18th and 19th century. Much although the origins of the Fenzi family can be traced back to the Italian renaissance, it was not until the mid 17th century that the fortune of the family was to become as substantial [as the name Fenzi during the 18th and 19th century. The main founder of the Fenzi dynasty was Francesco Fenzi, who became financial adviser and creditor to the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany at the end of the 17th century; from that point onwards the family fortunes were to rise in connection with the financing of both private and public initiatives. The Fenzi family were to benefit from all the notable privileges of the nobility such as exemptions of taxes granted by the favors of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
One of the most successful Fenzi's was Cavalier Emanuele Fenzi 1784 - 1875 Elder son of Cavalier Jacopo Orazio Fenzi a Magistrate in the Florentine courts, in 1805 Emanuele had already established himself as a successful entrepreneur working for Bosi, Mazzarelli & C. By 1810 his reputation and talent as an entrepreneur were so well recognized in the trade that he decided to set up his own firm la Bandi, Orsi, Fenzi & C. making and selling tobacco. In this same year he acquired a Palazzo in the centre of Florence from where he set up his trade and offices By 1820 the tobacco industry had known such economical growth mainly due to Emanuele’s entrepreneurial initiatives and the high capacity of transactions both in Italy and Europe that by 1821 Emanuele had accumulated enough wealth to establish the Fenzi Bank. By 1829 the Bank had taken residence it what is today known as the Fenzi Palace via San Gallo, one of the finest addresses in Florence. In 1860 Emanuele Fenzi became Senatore. One of the main factors linked to the success of the Fenzi family was the ability with which they managed to expand their ties to not only Italian investors but also the different financial market places in Europe as well as maintaining bonds with European aristocracy.
[edit] The bank
Established in 1821 by Emanuele Fenzi the bank, also known as the "Cassa di Sconto" is most famous for being the first public Bank in Italy. Based in the heart of Florence in the Fenzi-Muriccelli Palace on Via San Gallo. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Fenzi family started to create alliances with potential business partners both local and foreign . By 1820s the Fenzi Bank was backing the Hall family who had acquired the monopoly of the Tuscan straw hat market in England. Whilst maintaining an activity of financing public initiatives and in 1849 they became the main stockholders in the company that built the railway Leopolda. In the next thirty to forty years, the Fenzi Bank spread its network throughout Europe; by 1860, their agents were present in all the most important markets of central and northern Italy and in several cities in England, France, and Germany. Through their network of financial activities and their willingness to invest in common financial operations with both Tuscan and international banks, the Fenzi Bank blazed the trail for the creation of large credit institutions and for a unified financial market in Tuscany in the period before the 1860 annexation to the Kingdom of Italy.
[edit] The railway
It was in 1826 that marquis Leopoldo Carl Ginori first introduced the government to the iron track. The creation and innovation of the northern railways soon became a project that was dear to all members of the Italian government. When in early1830’s the Italian government was to sort out a financial partner for the project the Fenzi Bank entered the competition. The final decision was reached in 1835. There was to be the creation of a Railway between Florence and the coastal port of Livorno via Pisa and was to be named Leopolda after the then current Grand duke. In 1837 count Luigi Serristori and the engineer Piero Dini Castles proposed a study for the Railway. However the Fenzi project had been accepted as more serious and bitterly planned. An agreement was set up between the government the Fenzi bank, a local contractor company and British engineer Peter Senn & C. of Livorno disciple of George Stephenson and his son Robert Stephenson. The opening date for the Railway line works was set for the 14 April 1838. The line was eventually inaugurated in 1844. After nearly 20 years of planning and creation upset by the unstable political situation of the Risorgimento, the first section of the Leopolda Railway was at last finished.
[edit] Palazzo Fenzi - the interior
Amongst many other extraordinary baroque architectural features such as ornate ceilings and marble sculptures the Palazzo Fenzi has a wide variety of fresco's some of which by the famous painter Sebastiano Ricci. These fresco's were executed during his stay in Florence from 1706 to 1707 and are now considered as some of his lifetime masterpieces. During this period he first completed a large fresco series on allegorical and mythological themes [1] in the Marucelli-Fenzi palace before going on throughout Italy and Europe . He was later to influence the Florentine Rococo fresco painter Giovanni Domenico Ferretti These fresco's are valued as some of the most beautiful examples of early 1700s wall paintings and the first part in his series of fresco work across Europe.
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[edit] Palazzo Fenzi - the exterior
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[edit] Il Possesso di Rusciano
The villa of Rusciano, which is perched on an eminence higher up the road, was mentioned in a tale of the novelist Sacchetti, and originally belonged to the Salviati family. Brunelleschi built the present villa for Luca Pitti in the middle of the fifteenth century ; and to please Luca, whose ambition lay in a display of his wealth by the size of his dwellings, Brunelleschi's design, if carried out, would have covered even more ground than it now does, though it is one of the largest villas in the neighbourhood of Florence; it has spacious reception rooms, a terrace overlooking the distant country, and is surrounded by lovely gardens, with old cypresses and other fine and rare trees. In 1472 it was purchased by the Florentine Municipality to bestow on Federigo II, Duke of Urbino, the Captain General of their forces, in reward for his recovery of Volterra, which had rebelled against Florence. The villa passed after-wards through several hands, until it was purchased by the banker Signor Emanuele Fenzi for his family.
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
Cambridge Journals, Isabella Bigazzi / Zeffiro Ciuffoletti "Palazzo Marucelli Fenzi Guida storico-artistica" Fenzi Family Archive Trust "Il Possesso di Rusciano" EDIZIONI A.G.M. FIRENZE 1990
