Cecilia Maria de Candia

Cecilia Maria de Candia[1] (24 December 1853, Brighton, England – 26 May 1926, Bordighera, Italy), later Mrs Godfrey Pearse, was an Italian-British writer, amateur singer and society hostess.

The marriage of Cecilia Maria de Candia and Godfrey Pearse, a "fencing champion", took place on 29 February 1872, at St Pauls, Wilton Grove in the City of London.

They lived first in London, and some seasons in Brighton; eventually, the new couple started to spend time in Paris, at Cecilia's sisters' homes, and also in Italy at the de Candia residences.

Her main attraction to writing was developed during her early years of adolescence, she was a passionate and romantic young lady, always in love with the music and lyrics of the day.

She published three books: After sharing homes in London and seasonal time in a Mediterranean residence in the Ligurian region, bordering Monaco and Piemonte, she decided to conduct research work for her next book at her father's home—the Villa Salviati in Tuscany collecting old letters and pictures; a short time afterward she contracted an illness and died at her Mediterranean cottage in Bordighera, Italy.