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HISTORY OF FASHION ~ Early Victorian Winter Mantelet or Mantlet
Two young Victorian ladies wearing mantlets according to 1850s fashionWHAT IS A MANTLE CLOTHINGCoats can have many names, but similar terms like mantles and mantelets are confusing. A mantle was...
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"Godmersham Park" by Gill Hornby, a delightful jump back in time to Jane...
A Fireside Read by William Mulready (1786-1863)The story I'm telling you today takes place in the year 1804: we're in England, and the story is Anne Sharp's. She was a young well-do-to woman who coming...
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The Empress' Scents: rose and violet water and "Fantasia de Fleurs" by Creed
It is said that you cannot buy class and elegant people like Her are hard to come by, even today.History tells that the Empress of Austria, Who became an icon of beauty and style for Her grace and...
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Amos Bronson Alcott, Abigail May and Orchard House, Little Women's 'nest'
Surely, dear father, some good angel or elf dropped a talisman in your cradle that gave you force to walk thro life in quiet sunshine while others groped in the dark...~ Louisa May Alcott to her...
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Irish linen and Victorian "spinsters"
Today I'd love to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with you by recalling a tradition linked to the precious "Emerald Isle", as Ireland is commonly called in English, since its hills boast countless shades...
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Boxing with Byron
LORD BYRON SPARRING WITH JOE "GENTLEMAN" JACKSONHow many things did Lord George Byron do in his, albeit short, life?We have met him several times during our walks through History and we can say,...
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⊰ Victorian Spring and Easter Traditions ⊱
For much of History, Easter was a more festive day then Christmas and, as it happened for this last one's traditions we still preserve today, the Victorians brought us also the evolution of Easter...
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"Twas Easter-Sunday."
"Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and with joy."Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American literate,1807-1882)“For I remember it is Easter morn, and Life and...
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MARIA ENRICHETTA. DA VIENNA A BRUXELLES UN’ASBURGO REGINA DEI BELGI di...
Ebbene sì, dalla fine del mese sarà in vendita il mio ultimo libro, scritto nei mesi della scorsa estate e dell'autunno, una biografia storica di un personaggio la cui conoscenza coltivo da anni con...
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Some others Victorians' oddish inventions
During our several walks through the History of the Victorian Age, we have come to see that the Victorians really were very ingenious people. There were far many inventions patented at the time, many...
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What did Spring-time whisper?
WHAT did Spring-time whisper?O ye rivulets,Waking from your trance so sad,Pleased to welcome fisher-ladWith his little nets,Speed, for summer's in the air,Prattle, for the breeze is warm,Chatter by the...
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Eliza Acton, the poetess who invented the modern way to write cooking recipes
To give birth to Eliza Acton on April 17, 1799 was the English county of East Sussex and more precisely the small town of Battle. She came from a wealthy family and was the eldest of the five children...
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Ludwig Messel and Nymans Manor House and Gardens
Nymans House and Gardens, situated in Mid-Sussex, belong to the National Trust which preserves ancient mansions, castles and estates that have belonged to rich and powerful people of hundreds of years...
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The "Rose of Brabant"
On its publishing days, here there are the very first lines which my biography about Marie Henriette von Habsburg-Lorraine begins with.I've translated them from Italian into English just to bring you...
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The Ideal of Feminine Beauty in the Victorian Age
If it is true that each historical period has been characterized by its own aesthetic canons, it must also be said that we can consider feminine slenderness, usually associated with harmony and...
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David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson ~ The Album of Newhaven Fishwives
Today I'm taking you to Scotland, and to be more precise, in the year 1843, in what was, at that time, a humble fishing village: Newhaven, then a small gulf housing a very active port within the town...
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Princess K, the secret love of Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg-Lorraine
My love, how many ways to reach a kiss of yours,what a wandering loneliness up to your company!Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) da Cento Sonetti d’Amore (1959), Sonetto II, MattinoLeft: Princess Olga, called...
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"O, Gather Me the Rose"
O, gather me the rose, the rose,While yet in flower we find it,For summer smiles, but summer goes,And winter waits behind it.For with the dream foregone, foregone,The deed foreborn forever,The worm...
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The Legend of the White Lady of the Castel of Duino
Today I want to tell you a legend which takes us back in time to the Middle Ages, that of The White Lady of the Castle of DuinoThis castle stands nearby the ruins of a Roman stronghold dedicated to the...
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HOW TO COOK THE VICTORIAN WAY ~ Let's prepare some lemon cheesecakes without...
They're a few years I've discovered this cook book and I'm using it with unmeasurable delight. You may think it to be just a book of Victorian recipes, but first of all this book tells a story, a very...
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PORTRAIT OF A LADY ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett was born (it is supposed) on March 6, 1806, at Coxhoe Hall, between the villages of Coxhoe and Kelloe in County Durham, England, into a very wealthy family enriched...
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Capturing Christmas with Anton Pieck
Today I'm introducing you to a far famous painter from the Netherlands, much better known as a children books illustrator: Anton Pieck.Anton Franciscus Pieck was born on 19 April 1895 in Den Helder a...
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♚ NOBLE MANSIONS AND CROWNS ♚ Brocket Hall, Lady Caroline Ponsonby and her...
Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire in 1829I'm far sure you do remember Lady Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, neé Spencer, whom we've already met during our walks through history. As well as Lady...
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Victorian Mad Hatters
They've been passing almost ten years since ~ My Little Old World ~ published the post entitled:Alice Liddell, the real "Alice in Wonderland".It was 10 February, 2014 when I revealed to all the...
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Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the Adventure at the Masquerade Ball of...
Today I'm taking you with me to Vienna in the year 1874: the Carnival, known in German as Fasching, has begun, officially inaugurating the ball season. On the evening of Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, at...
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