Franny

Evaluated at Heritage Farm in 2025, description in progress. Like countless other immigrants, Francesca “Franny” Mariscesco (1927-2019) brought this bean variety sewn into the folds of her clothes. Her family was reduced to just these seeds by the end of WWII. Franny was the lone survivor after the Nazis took her family away from Trento, Italy, and imprisoned them in concentration camps in Eastern Europe in 1943. Her gardening abilities played a significant role in her survival as she was put in charge of growing a garden for Nazi officers in Auschwitz. Franny immigrated to the United States via a refugee program in 1946. She settled on Chicago’s South Side, then started and ran a successful drapery business for over three decades. Peggy Morgan and her daughter, Alison Vincent of Kimberly, Wisconsin, donated this variety to SSE in 2020. SSE Accession # 133770