Chasing the Rose

December 2, 2013
Di Robilant takes readers on a gentle meander in this memoir inspired by a rose he discovered while researching the biography of his great-great-great-great-grandmother, Lucia Mocenigo, a friend of Josephine Bonaparte, which became A Venetian Affair (2003). Although di Robilant’s family had not been connected to the small town of Alvisopoli in the Venetian countryside for 100 years, he was curious about the town and set out to see it for himself. On a visit, a caretaker showed him a fragrant, silvery pink rose the locals called rosa moceniga, but no one had been able to identify its origins. Of course, for a writer and historical researcher, that’s a delicious challenge. Di Robilant researches the history of the rose in France and Italy in search of this special rose’s beginnings. Along the way, he meets a variety of eccentrics, such as Eleonora Garlant and her garden of 1,500 roses (and growing). He also learns the anecdotes behind many of the named roses, including the Baltimore Belle, named for Elizabeth Patterson, who married Napoleon’s younger brother Jérome; and the Catherine de Württembeg, the woman Napoleon forced Jérome to marry. History and anecdote abound on this entertaining journey with di Robilant on his quest to get the rose officially named by the American Rose Society.

February 15, 2014
A historian's account of how he uncovered the identity of a mysterious wild rose growing on the old farming estate of an illustrious Venetian ancestor. When di Robilant (Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers, 2011, etc.) visited the former home of his great-great-great-great-grandmother Lucia Mocenigo, it was solely to make connection with a part of his past. But then the caretaker showed him a magnificent silvery-pink rose. Its delicately fruity fragrance and noble carriage told the author that "this was an old rose of some importance"; yet no one knew where it had come from. Captivated by the mystery surrounding this flower, di Robilant began an investigation into its possible origins. Another chance encounter--this time with a diary Lucia kept during her stay at the court of Emperor Napoleon--suggested that the rose had come to Venice via his ancestor. At the time she lived in France, Paris was "in the throes of a mad love affair with roses." Lucia did not become a collector like her friend the former Empress Josephine, but she did develop an interest in botany and brought home a variety of different roses. Di Robilant was fairly certain that the "rosa moceniga" was among them; however, he had no conclusive proof. His journey took him to historical archives in Paris and brought him into contact with rose collectors and specialists, from whom the author learned about individual rose species and the often colorful histories behind them. Yet it would be happy accident--this time in an Umbrian garden full of old Chinese roses--that would lead him to the answers he sought about the "rosa moceniga." Illustrated throughout with charming watercolors, Di Robilant's is a unique exploration of how human history often leaves its imprint in the most unexpected of places. A quiet country pleasure.

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March 15, 2014
Shakespeare's a rose by any other name takes on exacting and personal new meaning when di Robilant attempts to identify an old rose that has a deep and profound family history. Informed by the research done for Lucia (2008), his biography of his great-great-great-great-grandmother, Lucia Mocenigo, di Robilant's search for the botanical genealogy of a wild rose found on his ancestors' former estate in the Italian countryside ultimately took him from the illustrious gardens once belonging to Josephine Bonaparte to the inaccessible wilds of China's vast interior. Nowhere, however, would he be closer to his family's elusive, raspberry-scented, pale pink rose than in the company of Italy's reigning rose queen, Eleonora Garlant. As di Robilant describes his labyrinthine and frequently exasperating quest to determine the rose's roots and gain official recognition by registering its name, he charmingly uncovers the history of many of the rose kingdom's venerable stars. Di Robilant's tender memoir of his tenacious horticultural hunt is a treat for rose aficionados and historians as well as acquisitive gardeners of every variety.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)