Origo, Iris ___ 1902-1988 ___ British ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Iris was born in England, the child of an Anglo-Irish mother and an American father. She was educated privately in Florence, Italy, and, with inherited wealth, spent much time in her youth travelling. She married an Italian nobleman, Antonio Origo, and together they developed a Tuscan farming estate, La Foce. She wrote biographies such as 'Leopardi: A Study in Solitude', and 'The Last Attachment' about Byron. During the Second World War she and Antonio secretly converted La Foce into a refuge for children and escaped Allied prisoners of war.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - La Foce is liberated
The Diary Review - A Chill in the Air

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1943-1944 ___ domestic literary family village Italy

WEB TEXT LINKS
about
a few pages
a few extracts

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
War in Val D'Orcia: A Diary
 

May 2005, April 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.