Emanuele Orazio Fenzi

Francesco Franceschi (1843–1924), known in Italy under his birth name of Emanuele Orazio Fenzi, was an Italian horticulturist who spent part of his career in the United States, where his efforts contributed to the introduction of new plant species in southern California.

Emanuele Orazio Fenzi was born on March 12, 1843 in Florence, Italy to Orazio and Emilia Fenzi, members of a wealthy family involved in banking and railroads. He was the grandson of Emanuele Fenzi, and he was raised at Palazzo Fenzi by his grandparents following the early death of his parents. He graduated from the University of Pisa, from which he received a degree in political science and administration. Although he manifested an early interest in botany and gardening—especially tropical species—he initially acceded to his grandfather's desire that he go into the family business. He pursued his horticultural interests on the family's summer estate, where he developed a botanical garden. He was a founding member of the Italian Botanical Society in 1878, and he was a member of the Royal Tuscan Society of Horticulture, serving first as its secretary and then as its president. Over the course of his life, he developed into an expert on succulents, palms, and bamboo, and he is credited with introducing such species as bamboo and eucalyptus into Italy. In 1878, he introduced the first threshing machine to Italy.

With his wife, Cristina, he had six children. Following an economic crisis in Italy that decimated the family's wealth, he emigrated with his wife and three of their children to America in 1891. For his new life in the United States, he took a new name: Francesco Franceschi.

After two years in Los Angeles, Franceschi moved to Santa Barbara. There, he and local landscape architect Charles Frederick Eaton jointly founded the Southern California Acclimatizing Association in 1893 to introduce new species from around the world to California. It was initially headquartered at Eaton's Montecito estate of Riso Rivo, which became a botanical nursery for their experiments in plant propagation. Eaton planted an enormous variety of both native and non-native trees at Riso Rivo, including live oak, camphor, cinnamon, avocado, Abyssinian banana, candlenut, and many species of citrus and palms. Many kinds of seeds were also grown on the estate in their attempt to determine which were suitable for southern California's Mediterranean climate.

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