On Thursday 5 September 2024, after the summer break, the Lombardy Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George will resume its cultural activity. Following Mass, which will be celebrated by a Chaplain of the Order at 7.00 pm in the Basilica of Sant’Alessandro in Milan, a conference will be held on the theme Daughter of the King. A wedding for Italy, as part of the cycle of conferences on Italian nobility dedicated to the late President of the Order’s Royal Commission for Italy, Duke Diego de Vargas Machuca.
The conference will be presented by Nob. Patrizia Debicke van der Noot, on the theme taken from the title of her recent volume Daughter of the King: a marriage for Italy (Ali Ribelli Edizioni 2024, 342 pages), the result of intense research on marriage of Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy with the French Prince Napoleon Joseph, in the context of Franco-Italian history from July 1859 to January 1861.
Born in Florence, Patrizia Debicke van der Noot is bilingual, thanks to an Alsatian grandmother and to studies at the University of Grenoble. She has always traveled extensively and lives between Italy and Luxembourg. She is married to Eng. Rodolfo Debicke, Knight of Jure Sanguinis of the Constantinian Order, long-time Honorary Consul General of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for Lombardy.
A writer also known internationally, she is considered one of the most authoritative authors of historical novels and detective stories in the Italian publishing scene, doyen of the Renaissance historical novel. She is a literary critic and speaker at historical conferences for the FAI, for the Italian Cultural Institutes of France and Luxembourg, for the University of Luxembourg and for literary circles. She coordinated and conducted the tenth and twelfth edition of the Pistoia Crime Film Festival.
She has published numerous books, including: The Medici’s Gold (TEA 2009), The Man with Glaucous Eyes (Corbaccio 2010), The Pope’s Sentinel (Todaro 2013), The Conspiracy of San Domenico (Todaro 2016), The Gem of the Cardinal (TEA 2017), The Medici legacy (Parallelo45 Edizioni 2015; TEA 2022), The enigma of the jack of hearts (Delos Digital 2020), The Minstrel of Notre-Dame (Delos Digital 2021, co-authored with her daughter Alessandra Ruspoli), and The secret of the Flemish chalice (AliRibelli 2022).
