You’ll forgive me for receiving you informally, wearing a dressing-gown...
I’m here in Venice and this photo shows me in my friends' guest room with the wonderful and unexpected surprise I got from them.

Last night's ball was wonderful, but a bit tiring for a lady of my age.

When I decided it was time to stop dancing and go to sleep, I went to my room, opened the door and.....

The only portrait of my ancestor Orsetta was there!

In my family we have often spoken of her and her exciting and adventurous life, and we believed that this portrait of her must have been lost in the dust of centuries.
Miraculously, my Italian friends found this precious painting on a wooden table in an antique shop and bought it for me!

The sight of this treasure made me speechless (and you can guess it’s not easy to get me speechless!)

In our family we keep the manuscript of the memories of Orsetta Clorinda Bear and I can assure you that she was really a brave lady!

She was a...hummmm..close friend of a famous Venetian knight who you can see in her company in this portrait.
When he was imprisoned in the infamous prison “I Piombi”, he managed to escape in an extraordinary way. No one knew exactly how he did that, but we know from Orsetta’s memories that she had been the organizer of his flight, and without her clever tricks, the knight would have ended his days in a cell....

I cannot reveal what Orsetta did...it’s a family secret.