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Name: ROCCO, Mario M. G., Count

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Birth Date: 8 Dec 1893 Torre Annunziata, Naples

Death Date: 5 May 1975 Nairobi

Nationality: Italian

First Date: 1928

Profession: Pilot, settler

Area: Naivasha

Married: 1. In Rome 1919 Irene Ibsen, novelist b. 10 Sep 1901 Oslo, d. 22 Feb 1985 (granddau of playwright Henrik Ibsen). She later m. Steen Andersen Bille 2. Mrs Anne-Giselle Castelmagiri née Bunau-Varilla b. 25 Apr 1892 Paris, d. 5 Mar 1978

Children: 1. Susannah 'Rosetta' (22 Feb 1922 Rome-1979) 2. Sabinia Soutyia (1928-1928); Dorian Mario ( Jan 1930 Nairobi-2013); Mirella (15 July 1931) (Ricciardi); Oria (1932) (Guignio later Douglas-Hamilton)

Book Reference: Mischief, Hut, Peerage, Carnelley

General Information:

Mischief - a famous eccentric who lived in a huge Tuscan Villa on Lake Naivasha - Sirocco House - He had been placed under house arrest and shortly before the trial his house had been surrounded by police armed with shotguns, on a tip that Rocco was planning to escape by hot air balloon. (He was later interned in S. Africa)
Carnelley - Naivasha - …. The Roccos who built Dominio di Doriano. She, Giselle, was a famous artist and sculptress with exhibitions in the Paris Louvre. Mario was very dashing, always kissed my mother's hand and wore powerful after shave cologne. He was a pilot in WW1 and was to become 'Governor' if the Italians had won the war in Abyssinia and Kenya. He always said to my father "It's alright Steve, I'll look after you." He always wore extremely smart, pale blue Italian Air Force uniform. On the day the Italians entered the war he was stopped at the turn-off to Eburru by an ox-wagon across the road, manned by some of his old Naivasha acquaintances and sent off to South Africa as a POW.

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