Nobili, Grace, 1870-1962

Grace and Ricardo Nobili in the garden of Dommus Amicorum, their home in Venice, undated

Grace Cleveland Porter Nobili was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Dodge Porter and the grand-niece of President Grover Cleveland. She served in Italy during World War I as a volunteer nurse with the Red Cross in an Italian hospital, and as Director of Recreation Sevices in Italian War Hospitals in Rome under the auspices of the YMCA. She wrote "Negro Folk Singing Games and Folk Games of the Habitants" and "Mammina Graziosa" (1916). Nobili received numerous awards and decorations from the Italian government for her war service. She married Florentine nobleman Cavaliere Riccardo Nobili in 1933. Owing to her extraordinary service to Italy, she was granted special permission to be buried next to her husband in the family chapel near Florence, a privilege not usually granted to Protestants.

...