The following people are all mentioned in this book and include members of my extended family and those who have played an important part in our lives over the many years this book covers. They are listed in alphabetical order.
ANDREINA Beppino’s wife, an amazing cook, incredible housekeeper and a great friend and confidante.
ANTONIO Andreina and Beppino’s son, who shares the same birthday as me and gave me my first proper kiss.
BEATRICE DANIELS (TRIXIE) Sister of my grandmother, Rose.
BEPPINO The family caretaker at our house in Tuscany, La Tambura, and the man who inspired me as a child to become a professional cook.
CHUFF My glorious Irish setter, companion and keeper of all my childhood secrets.
LA COMTESSE VALENTINE ERREMBAULT DE DUDZEELE My Belgian maternal grandmother, cousin to the Belgian Royal Family, who married my grandfather Count Carlo Sforza.
COUNT ALESSANDRO SFORZA Brother of my grandfather Carlo, who was kept under house arrest in the family home before being imprisoned by the SS during World War II.
COUNT ASCANIO SFORZA Brother of my great grandfather, Count Giovanni Sforza.
COUNT CARLO SFORZA My maternal grandfather was born in 1873 in the family home in Montignoso di Lunigiana, Tuscany, and died in 1952 in Rome. He was an Italian diplomat and statesman, an exile during the Fascist era, and became a major figure in post-World War II foreign affairs. My grandfather entered the diplomatic service in 1896 and served in Cairo, Paris, Constantinople (where he met and fell in love with my grandmother, Valentine), Beijing, Bucharest, Madrid, London and Belgrade. He was Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1919–20 and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1920–21. Appointed Ambassador to France in February 1922, he resigned nine months later, refusing to serve under Mussolini.
COUNT CESARE SFORZA Brother of my great grandfather, Count Giovanni Sforza.
COUNT GASTON CHARLES ERREMBAULT DE DUDZEELE My grandmother Valentine’s father.
COUNT GIOVANNI SFORZA My great grandfather, father of Carlo, who had three brothers.
COUNT GIOVANNI SFORZA (GIOVANNINO) Brother of my great grandfather, Count Giovanni Sforza.
COUNT SFORZA SFORZA (SFORZINO) My mother, Fiammetta’s brother and son of Carlo and Valentine.
FIAMMETTA, BIANCA MARIA SCOTT (née SFORZA) My mother, daughter of Carlo and Valentine.
GASTON ERREMBAULT DE DUDZEELE (UNCLE BOB) The younger brother of my grandmother, Valentine. He married Lili (Natalia) in Eastbourne in 1920 and they had two daughters, Helene and Anne Marie.
GERARD AND ANGELA SCOTT My half brother and sister.
GERARD SCOTT (formerly SCHOETEL) My Dutch paternal grandfather, who became a British citizen and married my Irish grandmother, Rose Daniels.
GERARD SCOTT My father’s brother, firstborn son to Gerard and Rose.
GERMAINE ERREMBAULT DE DUDZEELE (TANTE GERMAINE) The beloved sister of my grandmother Valentine and Uncle Bob. She became the family diarist and wrote about their daily activities on practically anything she could find in her trademark violet ink.
GIULIA Andreina’s mother and the “Queen of Cakes”.
HOWARD (DIN) My youngest brother.
HOWARD SCOTT My father, son of Gerard and Rose.
ITALIA Our cook in Rome who taught me how to make gnocchi among many other things, especially the cooking of her native Abruzzi. She had a sister called America.
KING ALEXANDER OF SERBIA Ruled from 1889–1903, when he and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated by a group of army officers led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevi. When my grandmother, Valentine, danced with him in Belgrade in 1889, he had only recently been crowned king, and was merely thirteen years old.
LEONORA My father’s sister, Aunt Leo, who moved to Rome from England to open the Junior English School of Rome, which I attended.
MARIETTO Our milkman at La Tambura.
MOLLY My cousin and Aunt Leonora’s daughter-in-law. She is mother to Caroline and Tim.
NANNY MISCHA My mother and Uncle Sforzino’s faithful Irish nanny.
NATALIA KONSTANTINOVIC (TANTE LILI) Married Prince Mirko Petrovi-Njegoš on 25th July 1902 to become Princess of Montenegro. Lili fell in love with my mother’s Uncle Bob, but was only free to marry him once Prince Mirko had died.
NICK My middle brother.
PAULA My father’s sister, Aunt Paula, who would entertain us royally at Harrods, where she ran the lighting department, whenever we visited London from Rome.
PETER My father’s beloved youngest brother, who died all too soon.
PRINCE MIRKO DIMITRI PETROVI-NJEGOŠ OF MONTENEGRO, GRAND VOIVODE OF GRAHOVO AND ZETÀ Second son of King Nicholas I of Montenegro. Prince Mirko predeceased his father and his elder brother, the Crown Prince Danilo.
QUEEN ELENA OF ITALY Elena of Montenegro was the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and sister to Prince Mirko of Montenegro, who went on to marry Lili. As wife of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, she was Queen of Italy from 1900–1946.
ROSE DANIELS My Irish paternal grandmother, who married my grandfather Gerard after eloping with him and breaking all ties with her family.
ROSSANA Andreina and Beppino’s daughter and my oldest friend.
THE SFORZA DYNASTY Founded in the 14th century by Muzio Attendolo, and subsequently renamed Sforza (from “sforzare”, meaning to exert or force). His successors, including Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, went on to become some of the most powerful members of the Italian aristocracy.
SOPHIE MARKARION One of the many Armenian women who Valentine and Germaine rescued from Turkey and went on to become a family friend in Paris, where she made orange cordial in the bidet. She was married to Gabriel Markarion.
STEVE My eldest brother.
VALENTINA, THE MYSTERIOUS RUSSIAN ANCESTRESS The infamous, glamorous Russian ancestress, who apparently my grandmother and I were named after.