On the hillsides of Fiesole and Settignano, overlooking Florence, beautiful villas and gardens recall their former American, British, and European expatriate residents from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Attracted by Florence’s artistic treasures and the Renaissance ideal of villa life, these independent and talented women made their homes here. This volume belongs to the series Our Hillsides: Women Expatriates and Their Villas and Gardens one the Hills of Florence 1890-1950 whic aims to revive and enrich their memories by recounting their stories.
The fourth book in the series introduces the life of Nina Auzias, a street singer from Montparnasse, who joined her lover Leo Stein in Settignano in 1914, beginning a long and troubled relationship. After Leo's break with his sister Gertrude, he moved his collection of Renoirs and Cézannes to Villa Doccia, where he and Nina lived before marrying in 1921 and relocating to Villino Rosa. During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Settignano, they took refuge at Villa del Rossellino. The book also explores the expatriate community they engaged with on the hills of Florence, including Mary and Bernard Berenson, Ned and Peggy Bruce, Hutchins Hapgood, and Neith Boyce, as well as various Italian and foreign artists. The story follows Nina and Leo through their later years in the 1940s, where they faced physical and economic hardships but remained bound by what they saw as a unique destiny. After Leo's death, Nina, unable to bear her grief and solitude, was left alone.
