Florescu came from a boyar family; his father Manolache was a vornic, while his mother was Tinca Faca.

[1] Born in Brașov, in the Transylvania region of the Austrian Empire, he left for the Wallachian capital Bucharest, where he attended Saint Sava College.

[2][3] In the years leading up to the Union of the Principalities, which he supported, Florescu was a director in the Interior Ministry and, in 1857, entered the Wallachian ad hoc Divan.

He formed part of the first government covering all Romania, led by Barbu Catargiu, and served as Minister of Control from March to June 1862.

In the succeeding cabinet, that of Nicolae Crețulescu, he was Public Works Minister from June to October.