Baron Leonida Nikolai Giovannelli was an Italian-born Manx writer and cultural activist, who published actively between the 1950s and 1980s.

It was here that he met the Manx folklorist, musicologist, poet, and author, Mona Douglas, with whom he would form a close lifelong relationship.

[3] Following his release, Giovannelli joined Mona Douglas at Clarum, where they made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to run an upland farm.

[4] From this experience came a number of books, including Experiments on a Manx Hill Farm (1956) which was awarded a gold medal by the Italian Academy of Science, and Exile on an Island (1969) which was awarded the Gold Medal by the International Academy of Pontzen.

[7] His poetry was also published in numerous other publications, including a poem recollecting his World War II internment which appeared in Manninagh edited by Mona Douglas in 1971:[8] Sometimes, when we go swimming, We have the illusion of freedom for an hour.