18 Facts About Lina Waterfield

Caroline Lucie "Lina" Waterfield OBE was an English author and Italian correspondent for The Observer and The Sunday Times.

Lina Waterfield founded the library which became the British Institute of Florence.

Lina Waterfield was born on 16 August 1874 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris.

In 1884 her father inherited and moved the family to Fyvie Castle in Scotland, but he subsequently went to live with a mistress, whom he later married, and Lina Waterfield was sent to a Catholic convent school in Paris.

Lina Waterfield's mother asked Janet Ross, Maurice's sister, to pay for Lina to attend a convent school in Paris, and since she had terminal cancer, arranged for Ross and her husband Henry to adopt her.

Fanny Duff-Gordon died early in 1890, and after Lina Waterfield wrote that she was being pressured to become a nun, in December she moved into the Ross' residence, Poggio Gherardo in Settignano near Florence.

Lina Waterfield's father gave permission for her adoption early in 1891, and she spent the rest of her childhood there, finishing her education with friends of her aunt's such as the artist Carlo Orsi and Guido Biagi, the head of the Laurentian Library.

Lina Waterfield was progressive in her politics following her adoption by the Ross family.

Lina Waterfield decorated the walls of her room with pictures of heroes of the Risorgimento and refused to be presented at Court.

Lina Waterfield later became friendly with and took art tours with Bernard Berenson and his mistress, later wife, Mary Smith.

Lina Waterfield became Italian correspondent for The Observer in 1921.

Lina Waterfield interviewed Mussolini several times before and after his rise to power and clearly described Fascist brutality in her reports.

Lina Waterfield bequeathed Poggio Gherardo to the Waterfields' second son, John, with a life interest for Lina, and it became their primary residence.

Lina Waterfield sent her telegrams requesting reports on such topics as what the Italians did "on a bender".

Lina Waterfield continued as correspondent for Kemsley Newspapers until 1950, when she sold the estate and moved back to the Fortezza della Brunella; in 1952 she returned to England to live with her daughter Kinta in Kent.

Lina Waterfield was commissioned to write The Story of Palermo, to be illustrated by her husband, but Dent decided instead to have Lina co-write and Aubrey illustrate Rome and Its Story.

Lina Waterfield later wrote Concise and Practical Guide to Rome.

Lina Waterfield wrote two autobiographical works: Home Life in Italy: Letters from the Apennines, again illustrated by her husband, and Castle in Italy: An Autobiography, in which she misstated the birth years of two of her children.