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181 15 AThirty-YearPlan U pon her return in  to Roccasinibalda as owner outright, Caresse initiated her“ThirtyYear Plan,”based on the program she had mapped out nearly a decade earlier. Trepidation was never part of her temperament; so be it that she would have to live to  if she were to see the plan through to the end. She still dreamed of converting the castle into a self-supporting community with cottage industries, even though to some people, her idea of community sounded more like a gentle fiefdom than a cooperative.With the title to the property, she had acquired the rank of “Principessa,”an irony for a woman who regarded herself as a world citizen. Repairs to the roof,battlements,floors,and walls; clearing the rooms; and creating a kitchen and bathrooms that worked took enormous energy and resources.Caresse planned to spend September to April in the United States, so an elaborate heating system was unnecessary at Rocca, as the castle came to be called. But some provision besides open fireplaces needed to be made for heating. She employed several young men to oversee the construction and the hiring of local craftspeople, mason, carpenters, and plumbers. Over the next few years, Caresse raised enough money to run the castle by dissolving securities and selling artwork, including a Degas print that Sotheby’s determined was fake.1 She asked her brother Len to arrange that payments from an aunt’s trust be made monthly rather than quarterly. As she wrote in a May , , letter to him, the “two lean months in between are really not adequate to cover monthly expenses here.” She was relieved A Thirty-Year Plan 182 to learn that another $, would be added to the trust. The house in Washington had not been rented and she was losing $ every month. She nurtured her dream of creating a haven for writers and artists where by day they could work in solitude, and in the evenings linger on the terrace for cocktails and draw around the refectory table in the dining room for a simple dinner and lively conversation.She designated Rocca a“Humanist Center for the Creative Arts,”and anticipated that one day it would house a library dedicated to the memory of Harry Crosby. The huge basement prison would be transformed into a clinic serving the region. Because she had suffered another heart attack in the winter of , she was too weak and short-winded to walk up the hill to the castle. Instead, she required two men to carry her sitting in a palanka constructed by Bill Barker. Nothing, apparently, would deflect her ambitions. Caresse defrayed expenses by charging guests room and board, although she always had a cadre of artists who lived there on scholarship so to speak. The first summer season ran through October . One of the first inquiries she received was from Harvey Fite, the sculptor connected to the Associated American Artists Gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York. He had restored ancient Mayan sculpture for the Carnegie Institute in Washington,designed sculptural landscape at Overlook Mountain in Saugerties,NewYork,and was a professor and chair of the Arts Division at Bard College. He seemed like an ideal, paying candidate to invite to the Humanist Center. The terms for paying guests were as follows.2 Board, lodging, and a studio to work in cost $ a month. Breakfast consisted of coffee, fruit, and pannini on the veranda overlooking the valley. Lunch was brought on a tray in the studio, or a meal could be arranged at the village taverna. Dinner was served no earlier than : after an optional aperitif in the garden. Plumbing work was still going on in the private apartments of the southern wing.At this point, Rocca could accommodate no more than eight“working” visitors at a time. Guests could also stay by the day. A family of four—two adults two children—would pay $.GilbertChase,acousinof AnaïsNin,spentthenight with his wife,Kathleen,$ each with meals.A separate room cost $.All plans included meals. Caresse was serving the arts and humanity. She was also ensuring that for spring and summer, she would have stimulating company. During the summer of , Caresse’s longtime friend Elsa Schiaparelli stayed at Rocca. Although better known as a fashion designer, she was preparing a show of her paintings for an exhibition in New York City the following winter.Other guests included Takis, the young Greek sculptor whom Caresse had befriended while putting together...

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