door. On Halloween, the gate would open and Sveva would hand out really good treats, which added to the house’s mystery and fame. Ofelia eventually died on New Year’s Eve in 1960. Sveva was 43 years old at the time and had to find a way to re-enter society. Despite coming from nobility, she had few prospects, as she had not finished high school and had little money. During her isolation, however, she read a lot – and like her father, she was smart and gifted with languages – and she was recruited by a local monsignor, who gave her a job teaching French at the local Catholic school. A few years later, some friends eventually raised some money for her to get her teaching certification from the University of Victoria. After earning her credentials, she returned to Vernon and got another teaching job in a nearby small town, where she taught art and civilizations. Sveva had been interested in art from a young age – on her family’s trips back to Europe, she took lessons from a master painter – but after her father’s death her mother didn’t want her painting anymore. Back in the outside world, however, she started painting again and “some of the stuff coming out of her was pretty mind-blowing,” according to Kristin Froneman, Tours and Communications Coordinator for the Caetani Centre. “I guess when you’re in isolation for 25 years your mind goes in many different directions.” Today, one of the things Sveva Caetani is most known for is her ‘Recapitulation’ series, a series of 47 magnificent large watercolours loosely modelled after Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy,’ MARCH 2023
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