Iris Origo

Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa of Val d'Orcia, DBE (15 August 1902 – 28 June 1988), née Cutting, was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulciano, which she bought with her husband in the 1920s. During the Second World War, she consistently sheltered refugee children and assisted many escaped Allied prisoners of war and partisans, in defiance of Italy's fascist regime and Nazi occupation forces.

Origo was born at Beechwood Cottage, Birdlip, Gloucestershire, England, the granddaughter of William Bayard Cutting, her mother Lady Sybil Cuffe (daughter of Lord Desart, an Irish peer) having married the diplomat eldest son (also named William Bayard Cutting) of the rich and philanthropic New York family. Her parents travelled widely after their marriage, particularly in Italy, where her father contracted tuberculosis and died in 1910. Iris and her mother settled in Italy, buying the Villa Medici in Fiesole, one of Florence's most spectacular villas. There they formed a close friendship with Bernard Berenson, who lived not far away at I Tatti. Iris was briefly enrolled at school in London, but was largely educated at home, by Professor Solone Monti and by a series of French and German governesses.

In April 1918 her mother, Lady Sybil Cutting, married the architectural historian Geoffrey Scott. She divorced him in 1926 and took a third husband, the essayist Percy Lubbock.

Iris Cutting travelled to England and the United States in order to be launched in the society of both countries. In 1922, she first met Colin Mackenzie, a young Scottish businessman working in Milan; a romantic correspondence was followed by a passionate affair. On 4 March 1924, Iris married Antonio Origo, an illegitimate son of Marchese Clemente Origo. They moved to their purchased 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) estate, La Foce, near Chianciano Terme in the Province of Siena. It was in an advanced state of disrepair, but by dint of hard work, care and attention, they managed to transform it. Their son, Gian or Gianni Clemente Bayard (24 June 1925 – 30 April 1933), died of meningitis at the age of seven. They also had two daughters, Benedetta (born 1 August 1940) and Donata (born 9 June 1943).

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