Gaia Servadio

Gaia Cecilia Metella Servadio[1] (13 September 1938 – 20 August 2021) was an Italian writer.[2]

Gaia Servadio
Hosting After Dark in 1988
Born
Gaia Cecilia Metella Servadio

13 September 1938
Padua, Italy
Died20 August 2021(2021-08-20) (aged 82)
Rome, Italy
OccupationWriter
Spouse(s)William Mostyn-Owen (c. 1961–1989)
Hugh Myddelton (c. 1995-2021)
Children3, including Allegra Mostyn-Owen

Early life and career

Servadio was born in Padua, the daughter of industrial chemist[3] Luxardo Servadio and wife Bianca Prinzi.[4] Her father was Jewish and her mother was Sicilian and Catholic.[5] She received a bachelor's degree from London's Camberwell School of Art.[4]

Her first novel Tanto gentile e tanto onesta, aka Melinda, was published in 1967 by Feltrinelli in Italy and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK, and was "a runaway success".[4]

Personal life

Servadio was married to the British art historian William Mostyn-Owen c. 1961–1989, and they had three children, Owen (b. 1962), Allegra (b. 1964) and Orlando (b. 1973).[6] In 1968, they were living in "23 rooms or so" of one wing of Aberuchill Castle, Perthshire, Scotland.[7]

Their daughter Allegra, an art teacher, was the first wife of the politician Boris Johnson.[8] Their son Orlando is an artist and a painter.[9]

Servadio lived in Belgravia, London.[10] Following her divorce from Mostyn-Owen, in 1995 Servadio married Hugh Robert Myddelton, of Chirk Castle in Wales, another former Etonian.[11] In 2001 their surname was changed to Myddelton Biddulph, and they became Hugh Robert Myddelton Biddulph and Gaia Servadio Myddelton Biddulph.[12] They remained married until her death.[13] She died on 20 August 2021.[14][15]

Works

Fiction
  • Tanto gentile e tanto onesta (Feltrinelli, 1967)
  • Don Giovanni e L'azione consiste (Feltrinelli, 1968)
  • Il Metodo. Milano. Feltrinelli. 1970.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Un'infanzia diversa (Rizzoli, 1988)
  • Il lamento di Arianna (La Tartaruga, 1988)
  • La storia di R. (Rizzoli, 1990)
  • Abramo, La vallata. 1990.
  • E i morti non sanno (Dario Flaccovio Ed., 2005)
  • Raccogliamo le vele - Autobiografia (Feltrinelli, 2014)
  • Servadio, Gaia (2017). Didone Regina. Milano. Frassinelli. ISBN 97-88-89342-023-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Giudei, Milano, Bompiani, 2021.

Music
  • La vera Traviata. Libretto, in Angelo Inglese, cantata scenica in un prologo, 7 scene ed epilogo, 2013.
  • The Last Zodiac, Poems, in Marcello Panni, 12 Lieder for voice and orchestra, 2015.

Non-fiction
  • Angelo La Barbera. A profile of a Mafia Boss, London, Quartet Books, 1974.
  • Mafioso, London, Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, 1976.
  • To a Different World, London, Hamish Hamilton 1979.
  • Luchino Visconti, Mondadori, 1980.
  • La Donna del Rinascimento, Garzanti, 1986.
  • Traviata. Vita di Giuseppina Strepponi, Rizzoli, 1994.
  • Servadio, Gaia (1993). Incontri. Forster, Sraffa, Lowell, Matta, McCarthy. Abramo. Abramo. ISBN 978-88-8324-056-0.
  • Mozia. Alla scoperta di una civiltà scomparsa, Flaccovio Dario, 2003.
  • Servadio, Gaia (2004). Rossini. Una vita. Dario Flaccovio. Flaccovio. ISBN 978-88-7758-554-7.
  • Sammezzano, London, Idea Books, 2007.
  • Il Rinascimento allo specchio, Milano, Salani, 2007.
  • Gods, Sailors and Merchants. The Whitakers and Marsala wine, Torino, Allemandi&C, 2009
  • Incoronata pazza. Il mistero di Giovanna, figlia di re, madre di re, regina sacrificata, Milano, Salani, 2010.
  • C'è del marcio in Inghilterra, Milano, Salani, 2011.
  • Poetry. Tuscany and Umbria, a collection of Poetry of Place, London, Eland, 2011.
  • Gioachino Rossini Una vita, Feltrinelli 2015.
  • I viaggi di Dio, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2016.
  • L'italiano più famoso del mondo: vita e avventure di Giovanni Belzoni, Milano, Bompiani, 2018.
  • A Wartime Childhood, London, John Sandoe, 2020.

Curatorial
  • Ancient Syrian writings: Syrian preclassical and classical texts, Damascus, General Secretariat of Damascus, 2009. Government publication.

References
  1. The International Author's Who's Who, ed. Ernest Kay, Melrose Press Ltd, 1986, p. 799
  2. Burke's Landed Gentry 18th ed., vol. 2, ed. Peter Townend, 1969, p. 482
  3. "Gaia Servadio obituary". 23 September 2023 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  4. Andrew and Suzanne Edwards (16 February 2013). "From Designer to Journalist: An Interview with Gaia Servadio". Times of Sicily. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  5. Pugliese, Associate Professor of Modern European History Stanislao (22 August 2002). The Most Ancient of Minorities: The Jews of Italy. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313318955 – via Google Books.
  6. Burton, Humphrey (20 July 2011). "William Mostyn-Owen obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  7. LIFE. Time Inc. 7 June 1968. pp. 83–84. ISSN 0024-3019. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  8. Helyer-Donaldson, Rachel (8 January 2010). "Boris Johnson's first wife marries again". Theweek.co.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  9. "Orlando Mostyn Owen | The Royal Drawing School". The Royal Drawing School. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  10. "Alain Elkann Interviews Gaia Servadio writer, historian and broadcaster". Alainelkanninterviews.com. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  11. "Gaia: A Celebration". Italian Cultural Institute. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  12. "Change of Name and/or Arms". The Gazette. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  13. evening standard 21 September 1994 article Neroli Lawson "English men are hopeless but i married two of them
  14. "Gaia Servadio obituary". The Times. 21 August 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2021. (subscription required)
  15. "Morta la scrittrice Gaia Servadio, una vita tra romanzi, saggi e documentari". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 20 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
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