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(VENICE, ITALY) Yesterday, I had the privilege to be invited to a press conference at Palazzo Balbi by the Giorgio Cini Foundation and the Veneto Region. Eleonora Duse -- that fascinating woman -- will be the subject of a celebration this fall in honor of her birth, 150 years ago.

Thanks to the Academy Awards, the general public is now familiar with the French singer, Edith Piaf. Long before there were movie stars in Hollywood, here in Europe, there were many women who lived their lives with passion and dare. Eleonora Duse was a giant among them.

First, a brief blurb about the Giorgio Cini Foundation. To give you a hint of the scope of this foundation, before there was G8, there was G7, and twice the meeting was held at the Cini Foundation, in 1980 and 1987. Located on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Count Vittorio Cini created the foundation in memory of his son Giorgio, who died in a plane crash. We cannot know the depth of his grief, but we are fortunate that he had the strength of character to spin straw into gold and leave this treasure to mankind, an oasis for enlightened thinkers. I am for anything that allows one the freedom to use one's mind -- to agree or disagree without blindly following, or being forced into an opinion. And they are devoted to Vivaldi!

So, if the Cini Foundation, together with the Region of Venice (the Region is sort of like a county in the States, and the Veneto Region happens to be one of the most powerful in the land) decide to focus the spotlight on Eleonra Duse, it is impressive.

Since I drift in and out at press conferences, especially when they are in Italian, I started thinking about the energy of a woman like Eleonora Duse, born into a family of poor actors, who became so powerful that we are celebrating her birth 150 years later. She was a Star on Earth, and she did burn some ordinary mortals. Perhaps it takes us 150 years to examine such energy. Perhaps the Light is too bright. Still it shines, still it shines. We can only imagine the wattage we would encounter if we had met her while she was alive. Washington, D.C. itself got a shock when President Cleveland's wife invited Eleonora, an actress, for tea.

When she was 21-years-old, she had an intense love affair with a journalist who left her while she was pregnant. The baby died before birth, and soon after, so did he...

I'll let you do some research on your own, but her most famous love affair was, of course, with Gabriele d'Annunzio. D'Annunzio is a household name here in Italy, but I would imagine that many of you in America don't know who he is. Well, I HAVE BEEN TO HIS HOUSE on Lake Garda, and it is one of the most incredible villas on this planet. In fact, it's been a lifelong dream of mine to fashion an apartment inspired by d'Annunzio -- I am wild for his bathroom with the blue tub.

Wikipedia describes d'Annunzio as an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, dramatist, and daredevil. One of my favorite rooms in his house was his office. It has a low doorway, so you must bow your head to enter. Over the door is etched: Hoc opus, hic labor est: "This is the work, here is the working." On his shelf is the head of Eleonora Duse, "the veiled witness," which he would cover with a veil before he began to work.

Eleonora Duse and Gabriele d'Annunzio also caused some commotion here in Venice, among other venues. When he wrote a play and gave the lead to her rival, Sarah Bernhardt, not Eleonora, she left him. And would you blame her? It sounds quite cruel to me, and quite typical of the male character that still cannot seem to merge the image of the Madonna into something more realistic. Well, I suppose we women are just as bad when it comes to our image of the male Knight in Shining Armor. It makes you wonder... because Eleonora really seemed to be Madonna-like, and you could not get a greater Knight in Shining Armor than d'Annuzio... In any event, Duse and d'Annunzio are archetypes of human beings who really existed not so long ago, who really loved each other, and who we still recognize and celebrate. They left us many, many gifts, and that is why we are fortunate that the Cini Foundation and the Veneto are sponsoring this tribute, which will begin in September and focus during October 1-4, and include letters, film, an a theatrical production put on by the Goldoni Theater (another one of my favorite organizations), among other events.

Now you are aware. More details to come.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat

P.S. I just can't resist adding an aerial view of the Vittoriale, d'Annunzio's house.

Today is International Women's Day.

It's also the Centenary of Women's Suffrage in Victoria.

New Zealand came first with the whole women-voting thing, in 1893, followed by South Australia in 1902.

In Victoria, the issue was kicked off in 1891 when Premier James Munro said that he'd introduce a bill for Women's suffrage if ordinary women demonstrated they wanted the right. They did. They created the Monster Petition, with 30 000 signatures, in six weeks. The petition was 260 metres long, and several attendants were needed to carry it into Parliament. For some strange reason it took 19 bills and 17 years to actually give women the voting stamp of approval, but that's what happens when all the politicians are men.

The UK gave women the vote in 1918, but it had restrictions until 1928.

The US did it in 1920.

Italy gave women the nod in 1948, as did Belgium, Israel, Iraq and South Korea.

Switzerland didn't have women's suffrage until 1971, nor Lichtenstein, until 1984.

The most recent nation to grant their women the right to vote was the United Arab Emirates. There are still restrictions, which will be lifted by 2010.

We've come a long way, but while you're munching on your purple-iced cupcake and admiring your fancy new blue stockings, spare a thought for the women in the world who are still disenfranchised.

I've been thinking a lot about the war that is being fought between story and language.