Emanuele Fenzi

Fenzi

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 Italy.-The Family:...

(1784–1875), was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 a leading banker, iron producer, concessionaire of the Livorno–Florence railway and other railway enterprises, merchant for exportation of Tuscan

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 products, and landowner. Made Senator of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Grand Duchy of Tuscany

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...

 and later of the Kingdom of Italy

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

, Knight of the Sacred Military Order of Saint Stephen, Pope and Martyr, and Knight of the Order of Saint Joseph. He lived in these places: Palazzo di Via San Gallo, Villa Rusciano

Villa Rusciano

Villa Rusciano is an historic villa in the neighbourhood of Florence, central Italy, which includes work by Brunelleschi.- Description and history :...

 Villa Fenzi at Sant’Andrea in Percussina, house in the city of Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

. Great Grand Father of Ida Fenzi.

He was the son of judge and jurist Cav. Jacopo Orazio Fenzi, after the death of his father (1803) was only nineteen and having already to provide for the family. Having already proved himself a worthy entrepreneur under his fathers guidance, Count Fenzi acquired in 1805 the management of Bosi, Mazzarelli & Co., his keen entrepreneurial sense of initiative was soon rewarded by the economic flourish of the company.

This was to mark the beginning of an unstoppable economic success. In 1810 he bought a building on Corso dei Tintori and married the daughter of a noble Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

ese merchant Countess Ernesta Paffetta dei Lamberti; they had four children. The same year with some fellow members of Bosi, Mazzarelli & Co he founded Bosi, Mazzarelli & Co., specializing in the manufacture and sale of tobacco and gained the monopole of the tobacco industry within the Grand Duchy of Tuscany between 1814 and 1820.

By 1821, Fenzi was in a position to start up his own Bank: Banca Fenzi, which was soon to branch out all over Italy and Europe. He opened a branch in Piazza della Signoria

Piazza della Signoria

Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio....

and from 1829 it acquired a Palazzo on Via San Gallo that was to become the Palazzo Fenzi

Palazzo Fenzi

Palazzo Fenzi is a palace in Florence, Italy.Built in the 16th century for the Castelli family by Gherardo Silvani, it was later enlarged by the Marucelli family...

, that had been put up for sale after the extinction of the Marucelli family.

The Livorno banking house of Senn joined with the Florentine

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 firm of Fenzi to secure the concession for the Strada Ferrata Leopolda, designed to link Leghorn with Florence by way of Empoli, and the line was begun in 1841, to be finished ultimately in June 1848. By 1845 the desire for a network of railways had led, according to one estimate, to sixteen projects which lay on the grand duke's desk for consideration.

In 1835 Fenzi seized the opportunity to finance the planned construction of the railway line between Florence and the port of Livorno, the Leopold railway, with the contractor Swiss French Pierre Senn of Livorno, hence entering into a contract with the Grand Ducal government in 1838. The railway was one of the first in Italy and was named Leopolda in honour of the Grand Duke Leopold II

Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Leopold II of Tuscany was the last reigning grand duke of Tuscany ....

 of Lorraine.

He had a career as a politician as member of the Tuscan Senate between 1848 and 1849 and was amongst the biggest supporters of the return of the Grand Duke in Tuscany. After the fall of the Grand Duke he became senator of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1860, having sworn loyalty to the new government.

Sources

• Cambridge Journals, Isabella Bigazzi / Zeffiro Ciuffoletti
• "Palazzo Marucelli Fenzi Guida storico-artistica" Fenzi Family Archive Trust. Archivo Fenzi, Biblioteca de Risorgimento.
• "Il Possesso di Rusciano" EDIZIONI A.G.M. FIRENZE 1990.
• The Life of Emanuel Fenzi, Andrea Giutini, Postampa 2002.
• Verity Family Collection; Glamorgan Records Office, including the letters of Sebastiano Fenzi and Florence Cox from Sant' Andrea.