Background
Ann Cornelisen was born on November 12, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. She grew up in middle-class surroundings in Chicago.
124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, United States
Ann was educated at Vassar College.
Ann Cornelisen was born on November 12, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. She grew up in middle-class surroundings in Chicago.
Ann was educated at Vassar College.
Over eight years Ann Cornelisen lived in Rome and Florence. Her real adventure began when she met Gianna Thompson, the daughter of a Milanese aristocrat, who ran Save the Children's operation in the Abruzzi region. She stayed about 20 years in the villages of the Abruzzi region helping to establish 300 nurseries for Save the Children, a nonprofit organization. She lived as a native, observed acutely, and wrote books that are sensitive, incisive, and often humorous.
Her first and best-known book, Torregreca: Life, Death, Miracles (1969). It is about a social worker who comes to an Italian village to oversee the building of a housing project and a nursery school. She causes quite a stir being a Protestant single female in a devout Catholic community. Also, some of her attempts to modernize the town cause some hassle in a community that values tradition.
Her other books include Vendetta of Silence (1971), Strangers and Pilgrims: The Last Italian Migration (1980), Any Four Women Could Rob the Bank of Italy (1983), and Where It All Began: Italy, 1954 (1990). Women of the Shadows was republished by Steerforth in 2001.
Ann was a Protestant.
Ann got married and divorced in 1954.