Levantines of Note
Sylvia de Bondini
Sylvia de Bondini was a Levantine of Italian origin born in San Stefano (Yeşilköy) near Constantinople, in 1907. She was baptized in the Catholic church of Yeşilköy (St Stephen) on September 15, 1907 as the daughter of Guglielmo de Bondini & Valeria Christich. She was a talented amateur painter. Her second marriage, which lasted till their death, was to the Frenchman Jean Monnet (1888 – 1979) who is regarded by many as a chief architect of European Unity. Never elected to public office, Monnet worked behind the scenes of American and European governments as a well-connected pragmatic internationalist. He was Deputy Secretary-General of the League of Nations from 1919 until 1923 - more >> more:
Guglielmo de Bondini was a Journalist. He created the Italian newspaper ‘La Turchia’ in Constantinople on Octobre 4, 1906. He was the son of an Italian diplomat Pompeo de Bondini and of Anna Collaro (1837-1922) descendant of the well-known family Collaro of Tinos, Greece.
Sylvia died in Rome in 1982 but was buried with her husband in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne near Paris.
Jean Monnet relaxes with his wife Sylvia.
