lady with a heart for Capri

Capri, Italy.

LADY WITH A HEART FOR CAPRI  by Anna Maria Boniello

My Nonna in her room in Capri.

Translated from Italian to English

The first time that the little Lucia, daughter of Raoul de Forcade Marquis and Marchioness de Biaix Tina, laid her eyes on Capri, she was just five years old. It was a different Capri in 1928, an era in the middle between the two World Wars, and the aristocratic family descended on the island as a place of choice to spend the free time, the holiday months, even in those that today would be called the "low season." The memories of Marquise Lucia (pictured), now ninety years old, they are perfect and shiny and well-preserved in her memory, where she recorded anecdotes of famous people and simple stories of the local people. "Our first house," begins to tell the Marquise de Forcade, "was Villa Weber. Few today know that it is not the beautiful building that houses a hotel, but a typical house from the local architectural lines at the beginning of the Two Gulfs, which has hosted over the years, having been the home of the philosopher-poet, the premises of the court and then the court. Then we moved to another house with the largest and most sumptuous Villa wall, in a bottom of Vuotto to Tiberius, owned by an English nobleman. The most vivid memory I have, however, was our landing in Capri. No pier, but fishermen welcomed passengers with their strong arms and their boats and took them to the ground. This was my first arrival to the island."

See the original story (written in Italian) here. You can also read a story by my grandmother about Curzio Malaparte that is written in English here. 

joan in capri, italy

We're finishing off our week-long trip to Italy with a few more photographs taken by my grandfather Sid of my grandmother Joan in June of 1979. 

I love these photographs so much -- two of my very favorite people on vacation to one of my very favorite places in the world. My world collides in these photographs...my maternal grandparents enjoying the place where my parents and paternal grandparents (and great-grandparents if you remember that story) fell in love. How is that for a good family story?

One day I'll show these photographs to my children and grandchildren. They are true family heirlooms. 

Joan with a horse and some pigeons in Rome, Italy. She loved all animals.

Joan with my parents in Capri, Italy. They packed light for the occasion...ha! Check out the lime green car (Fiat?).

Joan exploring Capri, Italy.

My pretty grandmother. The colors in this one are so lovely. This is Italy to me -- terra cotta pots of flowers and sun-faded buildings with terraces and shutters.

capri in the summer of '79

These photos were taken by Joan and Sid in June of 1979 while they were on the Isle of Capri, Italy for my parents' wedding. Film photography does an excellent job of capturing the Capri light and the colors...As amazing as digital photography is, it just can't quite compare.

Jonathan and I traveled to Capri in August of 2010. You can see some of my own photos of Capri here.

family stories: adele and ernesto de forcade

My great-great-grandmother, Adele De Forcade.

This week I was lucky enough to interview my aunt and 91-year-old grandmother about our family. They told me several stories about my great-grandmother Tina, great-grandfather Raoul and my great-great-grandparents Ernesto and Adele.

Adele was born in Verona, Italy (home of Romeo and Juliet), married Ernesto De Forcade at 17 or 18, and had two children, Marie and my great-grandfather Raoul. 

Ernesto built railroads, and he was involved with the construction of the first railroad in Naples. The family moved to Naples during that period. When Raoul was eight, Ernesto traveled to Brazil to build a railroad, and he died suddenly.

Adele was still young, so she remarried. Her second husband was an attorney who spoke ten languages and travel extensively, even to the U.S., which wasn't very common at that time. He adored Adele and adopted Raoul. He purchased two apartments in Naples and a home on Capri for the family. These homes are still in our family to this day.

Adele died when my grandmother was four years old. Although her second husband was her senior, he died in 1936 when my grandmother was 16. My aunt described him as a bit of a health freak who chewed each bite of food 33 times. He also documented everything very thoroughly. My family live in the apartments that he purchased all of those years ago, and they have found boxes and boxes of his papers.

In the picture below, I see my father in Ernesto, his namesake, and I see my cousin Elena in Marie. Although my grandmother heavily favors her mother, I also see Adele in her features. 

Marie, Ernesto, Adele and Raoul De Forcade.