Romano Romanelli

Romano Romanelli (7 January 1882 – 20 January 1969) was an Italian artist, writer, a naval officer. He is best known for his sculptures and his medals.

Romanelli Romanelli was born in Florence, the son of sculptor Raffaello Romanelli. Romano’s works occupy an important place in the Avant-Garde movement and form part of the artistic legacy of the Romanelli dynasty, which continues to this day. He is buried in the Soffiano cemetery in Florence.

Florentine by descendant, on his mother’s side of Francesco Ferrucci, the famous Florentine Military Commissioner of the Medici family and a ship-owner and on his father’s side the son and grandson of renowned sculptors. His grandfather Pasquale Romanelli had been a collaborator of Lorenzo Bartolini, his father was the acclaimed and talented Raffaello Romanelli He was a decorated Naval officer in the Italian Navy.

As a commanding officer in Gibraltar, Romano was to meet Dorothea Hayter, and she would become his wife in 1925. She was the daughter of Rev. William Thomas Baring Hayter,. They had three children - a son, Raffaello Romanelli (b. 1926), and two daughters, Costanza (b. 1928) married to Bettino, 31st Baron Ricasoli (b.1922, d.2009) and Ilaria (b.1931) married to Arnaud Faure (b.1930-d.2015).

He was also a wine producer creating at the turn of the 20th century the Tenuta di Riseccoli winery in Greve in Chianti. He also held farms in Somalia, on the Jubba river, where he had plantations of banana trees and grapefruits. In 1965 his wife, whilst driving to the local hospital she had created, was sadly murdered by natives.

In 2012, his daughters Costanza and Ilaria donated their collection of around two thousand drawings by their father to the Florentine Galleria d’Arte Moderna housed in the Palazzo Pitti.

As a boy under the guidance of his father, Romano showed an aptitude for sculpting, and it seemed that he would follow the family tradition of sculpture. But Romano first found a career in the Italian Navy.

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