Francesco Feroni

Francesco was born in a small Tuscan town of Empoli in 1614 in a family that dealt wool dying. In 1640s he was a resident of Amsterdam, first working as an agent of the Florentine merchant and senator Buonaccorsi and later as an independent merchant. First years were difficult and he later recorded that these was “years of blood, sweat and tears (…) in which he had been sustained by no one and he had not depended upon any person”. However, he managed to overcome initial difficulties and amassed a substantial fortune. Feroni’s wealth came from three sources. The grain trade from the Baltic region to central Italy was his original activity. He also participated in trade with Portugal to which he exported textiles like linen and scrys and from which he imported Brazilian sugar and salt from Setubal. Feroni was known as one of the main importers of Spanish wools in the United Provinces. However, much of his wealth came from the Dutch slave trade with Spanish America. Namely, around that time tobacco that grew in Virginia pushed from the European market that cultivated in Carribean. That was the reason why the planters on Caribbean turned to sugar cultivation instead, but sugar required much bigger labor force than that of tobacco. Francesco seized that business opportunity.

Upon his return in Florence Feroni was made Marchese of Bellavista in 1683 and his family acquired a large palace in Via dei Sergli. He died in Florence in 1696, and was buried in the family chapel in the Basilica of the Annunciation.