La marchesa, la monaca, la matta e la spia

A retreat “for religious study and rest.” This was how the Marquise Carla Nobili Vitelleschi justified the construction of a building at 1,700 meters above sea level, on the rocky cliffs of Monte Generoso. But that strange, nearly inaccessible house—perched high on the rocks on the Swiss-Italian border in the Lugano Prealps—hardly looked like a retreat. Its position made it res...