|
|
Leone became a gentleman farmer in the Okanagan. Gentleman farmers always had another source of income, since farming was a hobby for them. Leone had money from his investments in Italy. Before he left Rome, Leone sold off most of his share of the Caetani property. He put his money into stocks. In Vernon, he bought an orchard and looked after it himself. He learned how to log trees, and he chopped all the firewood to heat their house. Leone enjoyed his new life of Europe and governesses for Sveva. manual labour. It was so different from the aristocratic world he was used to in Rome. Sveva wrote about her father many years afterward. She lovingly recalled how he liked to wear work clothes, drive a small truck, use tools, and walk downtown to get the mail. However, there came a tragic change in the lives of Leone and his family. First Leone lost most of his money in the stock market crash of 1929. This put an end to trips to Europe and governesses for Sveva. Then he developed cancer. He died on Christmas Day in 1935 when he was just 66 years old. |
