Dimensions
130 x 197 x 13mm
A Sicilian Childhood
Fulco Santostefano della Cerda, Duke of Verdura was born in the 1890s at the Villa Niscemi on the outskirts of Palermo. 'The Happy Summer Days' describes his childhood in that beautiful place at the beginning of this century and paints enchanting vignettes of a bygone era, an era of luxurious palaces, gardens and parks.
Through the eyes of young Fulco we see the many fascinating characters that peopled this world: the aloof grandmother, tender mother and adored sister, with whom he grew up in the Villa, waited on by a host of servants and licked into shape by a series of governesses; his handsome, dashing father who lived a separate existence in the Palazzo Verdura in town; his innumerable eccentric relations and neighbours; and the many animals which he and his sister loved so much.