“For me it was the best of both worlds“

Table of Contents

“I was born in Florence in 1921. When I was eighteen months old my parents left Italy to work in Belgium. We did not stay there long because my mother did not like the climate. So we went back to Italy and my father left again for France to find work. He arrived in Sanary where he had cousins. We joined him soon after.“

“Then came the time when my mother met Mme Huxley at the Chardon Hotel because they had bought their villa which was near by and they were doing those transformations and they were sleeping in the hotel. My mother was working as a chambermaid and it was Mme Huxley who first asked my mother which nationality she was. When she answered she was Italian it was a great joy because they have arrived from Tuscany, she had spent the 14-18 War in Italy with her family, and after that she had a love for it because she had always been well treated. When she started to talk to her she was so pleased my mother was Italian, but she said I‘m so sorry I have hired all the staff already, but come to see me anyway“. So Maria invited my mother to come to see her and when she came she gave her at once a lot of clothes belonging to Matthew, little shirts, little trousers, all for Erasmo my young brother who was three years younger than her own son. They were sometimes large but never mind! My brother did not realized it but he was suddenly dressed like a prince.“

“After several visits when it was clear that they got along well Maria said to Gulia: “I absolutely want you to come to work for us, you will clean the car“. “Mme Huxley had all sorts of problems with the young locals she had hired and she cried often over the situation. Between eighteen and twenty their main concern naturally was the affairs of love, things were going wrong because of that and so on. If Mme Huxley was worried about the torments of youth she was also annoyed to see that the young locals abused her kindness and good heart. Very soon Gulia told Mme Huxley “Don't worry, if you want I can take care of the house and I will have you save a lot of money“.

Gulia was an illiterate peasant from Tuscany, but she worked well and fast. She had a lot of good sense and wisdom that forced Maria to admire her. Gulia became the confident and the support Maria needed in this foreign country.

“The other girls finally gone my mother took care of everything; the cooking, the cleaning, picking the fruit, doing the preserves and so on“ Then my father started to come and as he was good with the garden he finally took care of it. “How beautiful the flowers are Guigo,
I never had such beautiful roses!“ Mme Huxley was never short of compliments!“

Then we came along naturally with my young brother Erasmo, when she first saw us she was so nice! She complimented us and she asked what I would like as gift. She was told that I liked sewing and that I dreamed of having a doll, so she had one sent directly from Paris, and she bought a real little Singer machine, adorable!3

3When going to Sanary to do the errands Gulia would invariably sit in the front seat of the red Bugatti, and whichever member of the family or friends was coming along everyone was summoned to help carry the baskets home, there was no master-domestic relationship because Maria did not want it so. When Gulia answered the telephone hanging on the wall of the entrance, one of the very first in Sanary, my mother was supposed to name herself ‘the intendant‘, not the maid. “You are my intendant, there is no servant in my house insisted Mme Huxley.“

“They were extremely nice people. Everyday I would eagerly wait for the moment to go to their home. I was young but I did appreciate this sophisticated atmosphere; you should have seen them together, caring for each other, holding hands, delicate, nice and polite with everyone. Over the years I would spend a lot of time in the house where I had slept so many times. Mme Huxley would prepare me a bath, made breakfast for me, she would share all kind of stories as if I were another child of the house. I even had dinner with famous guests and Mme Huxley would ask me gently: “What do you want to do Fosca, do you want to say goodbye to everyone or slope off like a Brit?“

“When they left for Italy or elsewhere they would always come back with heaps of presents for everybody. Maria would send us postcards from their trips, Mexico, Barbados. She had such a good heart, immense! She loved everybody, and him as well!“

“When Aldous was about to finish BNW he suffered physically from stress because he couldn't find an end for the novel, a real fear caused him stomach ache for days. Gulia knew how to take care of him and she gave him a decoction of plants, so Aldous lived again and found the end he was looking for!“

“From age nine until sixteen at the time they left for America it was for me the best of all worlds!
Love from my family, affection from a family of heart! I would eternally thank God for having me cross their path, and they would remain, especially Mme Huxley, an inspiration for the rest of my life!“