Franca Florio

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Franca Florio
Florio family; Belle Époque
protagonist

Franca Florio (

Florio family. She was nicknamed "Queen of Palermo".[1]

Biography

Ancestry and marriage

Francesca Paola Jacona della Motta was born in Palermo on 27 December 1873. She belonged to an impoverished family of the Sicilian high aristocracy. Her father was Pietro Jacona della Motta, baron of San Giuliano, and her mother was Costanza Notarbartolo di Villarosa, sister of Pietro Notarbartolo, duke of Villarosa.[1] Her maternal ancestry also included the House of Montcada and the Lucchesi-Palli, princes of Campofranco.

Ignazio Florio Jr., Donna Franca and their first children, Giovanna (1893-1902) and Ignazio "baby boy" (1898-1903).

Despite the impoverishment of the family, the prestigious ancestry of Donna Franca made her a good catch, especially in the eyes of the Sicilian high bourgeoisie looking for nobility.[1] Therefore, on 11 February 1893, at the age of 19, Franca married the entrepreneur and shipowner Ignazio Florio Jr., heir of the Florio family's economic empire. The assets of Ignazio Florio Jr. included the Florio winery (leading company in the production of Marsala wine), the whole Aegadian Islands archipelagos with a large tuna catching and processing plant, the Fonderia Oretea, the Banco Florio (Sicily's correspondent bank of the Rothschilds ), and most importantly 40% of the Navigazione Generale Italiana.

Donna Franca in 1911.

Belle Époque and social life

After her marriage with

Queen consort of Italy Elena of Montenegro.[2]

Pietro Canonica, sculpture of Franca Florio. Villa Borghese, Rome.

Donna Franca was also an art patron. She was a friend of the Italian writer and poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, leading figure of the Decadent movement in Italy, who described her as "a unique woman. A creature whose every movement possesses a divine rhythm".[3] In 1901 Donna Franca met the painter Giovanni Boldini, an internationally renowned portraitist who used to work especially in Paris and London. Therefore, Boldini painted the famous "Portrait of Franca Florio". Other artists connected to her were the dialect poet Trilussa, the composers Pietro Mascagni and Ruggero Leoncavallo, the painter Ettore De Maria Bergler, the sculptor Pietro Canonica, the novelist Matilde Serao and the writer Robert de Montesquiou.

In the same years, Franca Florio also met the

Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and celebrities such as Oscar Wilde, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly and Maria Callas.[1][4]

Last years and death

After the bankruptcy of Ignazio Florio Jr., Donna Franca retreated to the Villa Silviati, belonging to the husband of her daughter Costanza Igiea Florio, in the frazione of Migliarino Pisano, in the town of Vecchiano (Pisa). She died on 10 November 1950 and was buried in the Cemetery of Santa Maria di Gesù, Palermo.

Cultural depictions

Giovanni Boldini, Portrait of Franca Florio

The famous

Venice Biennial.[5] The portrait remained like this until 1924 when, with the demise of the Florio family's wealth, Baron Maurice de Rothschild acquired it. Therefore, Rothschild engaged Boldini to restore it to its original sensual version.[5] This story has however come under scrutiny, as the dress Donna Florio wears is more contemporary to the fashion of the 1910's than 1901. Recent x-ray analyzes has discovered that there is another layer of paint beneath the central and lower area of current version of the portrait, raising the strong possibility that it was the long sleeved, foot length dress that was depicted in the original version of the painting.[6] After two auction (Christie's 1995 and Sotheby's 2005), the painting has been on display at the Grand Hotel Villa Igiea in Palermo since 2006.[3] In 2017 it gone to auction again.[3]
It is said that the necklace in the painting, with 365 pearls, one for each day of the year, was a present from the husband, begging forgiveness for his many affairs.

Franca Florio, regina di Palermo is the title of a full-length narrative ballet in two acts, with music by Lorenzo Ferrero and scenario, choreography and staging by Luciano Cannito. A commission by the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the work premiered there on 22 November 2007 with Carla Fracci in the title role, and was restaged in June 2010.

Issue

Donna Franca and her husband Ignazio Florio had five children:

  • Giovanna (1893-1902)
  • Ignazio (1898-1903)
  • Giacobina (stillborn)
  • Costanza Igiea (1900-1974)
  • Giulia (1909-1989)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Franca Florio.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Quello sguardo di Franca che promette e poi delude". La Repubblica. 23 April 2003.
  2. ^ Exhibition - The Court Cape of Lady Franca Florio. thefashioncommentator.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Comprehensive and spectacular retrospective of the work of Giovanni Boldini on view in Rome". artdaily.com.
  4. ^ (in Italian) Bentornata signora Florio; Villa Igiea recupera il ritratto, La Repubblica, 4 December 2005
  5. ^ a b c "The Portrait of Sicily's Most Beautiful Woman". thesicilianhouse.com.
  6. ^ "Boldini e i misteri del ritratto di donna Franca Florio". lidentitadiclio.com.

Further reading

  • Candela, Simona. I Florio. Sellerio (Palermo, 2008).
  • Cancila, Orazio. I Florio: Storia di una dinastia imprenditoriale. Giunti (Florence, 2010).
  • Li Vigni, Benito. La dinastia dei Florio: romanzo storico. Sovera (Rome, 2013).
  • Lo Jacono, Vittorio & Zanda, Carmen. Franca Florio e Vincenzo Florio: due miti di Sicilia. (2016).

External links

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