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Florence Trevelyan Cacciola (née Florence Trevelyan Trevelyan) was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumblerand, on February 7th 1852. She was the daughter and only surviving child (her older sister Edith had died in 1850 at just one year old) of Edward Spencer Trevelyan of Hallington Hall (cadet son of Sir John Trevelyan, 5th Baronet Trevelyan of Nettlecombe, Somerset, and of Wallington Hall, Northumberland), and of Catherine Ann Forster.

She was baptised in St. Andrew Church in Hartburn, Northumberland, with her family name serving also as a middle name, so that she would have been able to keep it even after married.

On August 23rd 1854 Edward Spencer Trevelyan committed suicide, leaving his wife and his two years old daughter living alone in Hallington Hall.

Over the years, Florence and her mother developed a great interest in gardening and in establishing "pleasure gardens", such as gardens open to the public. Perhaps the fact that Florence's uncle, Sir Walter Carverley Trevelyan, 6th Baronet, was a renowned naturalist and geologist, might have provided some sort of influence.

In 1877 Catherine Forster died and her daughter inherited Hallington Hall. The year after the childless Sir Walter died too. Following the wishes of the late baronet, his inheritance was surprisingly split: his title was inherited by his nephew Alfred Wilson Trevelyan (son of Alfred Wilson Trevelyan senior), while Wallington Hall was left to his cousin Charles Edward Trevelyan. Despite being senior to her cousin Alfred (Florence's father was older than Alfred's one), and a closer relative than Charles Trevelyan, Florence, as a female, was passed over in the succession of the family titles and estates. In 1879, Miss Trevelyan, already mistress of herself, set off for a two years tour across Europe and North Africa, accompanied by her cousin, Louisa Harriet Spencer (daughter of Beatrice Trevelyan and Ernest Augustus, youngest child of Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister to have been murdered). During a stop in Alassio, the two girls visited Parco Fuor del Vento and the villa Molino di Sopra as guests of General William Montagu Scott McMurdo, owner and designer of the park. Florence could thus admire the terraced hill, planted with olive, orange and palm trees and cypresses, and adorned with four pagoda style buildings. From there she could also see Gallinara island, shelter for herring gulls and protected plant species.

In 1881 Miss Trevelyan visited Taormina for the first time. The Sicilian city at that time was still recovering from the turmoil that had followed the Unification of Italy in 1861. Economical backwardness had also forced many to emigrate and so depopulate the territory. Taormina impressed very much Florence, because it reminded her of Alassio. In particular, she thought the islet of Santo Stefano (donated in 1806 by King Ferdinando I to the city) resembled a lot to Gallinara. Together with her cousin, she stayed in Taormina from January 28th to February 14th 1881. On August of the same year, the two girls were back in Northumberland. It's during this time that Florence became somehow close to Queen Victoria, to the point of being invited to Balmoral Castle (fun fact, in Taormina Florence is still popularly regarded a Queen Victoria's niece. Perhaps everything started after people saw a photo of Florence with her mother, Catherine Ann Trevelyan. Certainly the majority of people didn't actually know the actual appearance of Queen Victoria, so Mrs Trevelyan was easily mistaken with her illustrious sovereign, after all they were only 4 years apart) . In fact, despite the fact that the Trevelyan were mere landed aristocracy (and Florence, as the daughter of a cadet son, wasn't even entitled to be called lady), they were well-connected with the higher society. It was rumoured that at some point Florence had attracted the attention of the womanizer Prince of Wales, future Edward VII. Also, according to this version of the story, once Queen Victoria was made aware of this dalliance, she wasn't amused in the least. To ensure the end of it, she supposedly kindly offered Miss Trevelyan a generous annuity to keep her away from her son. Handsomely rewarded for her renunciation, Florence left Great Britain to never come back again. The main supporter of this rumour is Dino Papale, lawyer and journalist, distantly related to Florence's future husband. In his book Taormina Segreta - La Belle Epoque 1876-1914, published in 1995, he claimed Florence had been basically exiled from the court and high society because of a supposed fling with Prince Albert Edward.

Whatever the real reason was, Florence left once again the country with her cousin Louisa. In 1885, they were back in Taormina, lodging at Timeo Inn, adjacent the Greek Theatre and owned by La Floresta family. The two women had brought with them their five dogs, and to avoid inconveniencing the other guests with the animals' yapping, in 1889 Florence funded at her own expenses the building of an upper level. When one of her dogs, Sole, fell ill, Florence was desperate since she couldn't find in all Taormina a veterinarian to tend to the animal. Desperate and in tears, she asked her neighbour Salvatore Cacciola for help. Mr. Cacciola, who lived in a mansion also adjacent to the Greek Theatre (the then Palazzo Cacciola, now Palazzo Acrosso Papale), had been Professor of Anatomy and Histology at Padua University. He tended to the dog and managed to heal it, earning the woman's appreciation. Florence and Salvatore soon got closer, especially since Cacciola had studied in Malta and was thus fluent in English. He came from a wealthy family, in the future he would even be Taormina’s mayor for almost a decade, and being a Freemason leader (he would found the Rinascimento lodge), he shared with Florence an interest in esotericism. The two quickly fell in love and married on July 5th 1890.

Once settled in Palazzo Cacciola, Florence decided to expand the already vast garden by buying one plot of land after another, until the whole slopy countryside that linked the villa to the sea was annexed to the Cacciola's property. Apparently, this decision earned her in 1894 a reproach from English archaeologist Arthur Evans. While completing the 4th and last volume of The History of Sicily from the Earliest Times, which he had written together with his (by then deceased) father-in-law, Edward Augustus Freeman, Evans criticised Mrs Cacciola's mass purchasing as it would have prevented future archaeological digs in a place so near to the Greek Theatre, and with sure archaeological and historical relevancy. ("This, with others of the most interesting and beautiful sites of Taormina, has passed into the possession of an English proprietress, who has barred the access and warned off the civilized portion of mankind in four languages", p. 110-111) Previously, on June 1890, Florence had bought the former islet of Santo Stefano (which German baron and photographer Wilhelm von Gloeden baptized as Isola Bella, beautiful island, as it is globally known). There she had a house built, and rare and expensive exotic flora planted. These plants soon merged with the islet's local vegetation creating a unique natural environment, enriched by the presence of many (and sometimes rare) species of migratory birds, insects and reptiles, like the red-bellied lizard (Podarci Sicula Medemi) which only lives there.

In 1891, Florence gave birth to a stillborn son. She decided to leave her husband and moved away from Villa Cacciola, going on to live alone even further in the countryside, in a small cottage on mt. Venere. Nearby the house, she had a mausoleum built, and a roadside that connected mt. Venere to Taormina. She became particularly involved in the charity works, like establishing a fund that would have provided the daughters of fishermen with a dowry. Furthermore, she immersed herself in the creation of an English-style garden (or landscape garden) which she will name the Hallington Siculo, after her English childhood home. Like she had done with Isola Bella, Florence mixed exotic with native plants to create a peculiar habitat. In order to make the place even more special, she had the garden scattered with many small follies (Mrs Cacciola called them "beehives"). These picturesque buildings were made of local materials: bricks, wood, and various types of stones, and even capitals and other from the Greek-Roman period and XV-XVIth century decorative elements. The hives served as a bird observatory and places where she could relax while reading or having tea alone or with friends. Taking inspiration from her esoteric interests, she added a small megalithic construction (a cromlech) made of limestone, with the ulterior intention to re-use the advanced materials. As an animal lover, she also had some cages installed to house peacocks, parrots, canaries and pigeons. These renovations plus the amazing panorama seen from the garden (ranges from mt. Etna, the Ionian sea and the surrounding countryside), makes the Hallington Siculo a true heaven on earth.

Florence and her husband had become incredibly well-known in Sicily and abroad. In 1896 (and again in 1904 and 1906) they were visited by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia during his stays in Taormina, while in 1906 it was the time of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (Florence's supposed former flirt) and his wife Queen Alexandra. Other personalities included Gabriele D’Annunzio, Edmondo De Amicis, Oscar Wilde (she would finance after he got released following the charges of omosexuality), Otto Geleng, D.H. Lawrence, Ignazio and Franca Florio, Joseph and Tina Withaker.

Following her son's death, she had developed diabetes. To cure her, her brother-in-law Carlo, the only pharmacist in Taormina, injected her with strychnine (at that time considered a cure for many illnesses). In September 1907 her conditions worsened, so that she had to go back to Villa Cacciola. There she died a couple of days later, on October 4th. Respecting her wishes, she was buried in the mausoleum on mt. Venere.

Dying childless, she had named as her heirs two of her father's cousins, Robert Calverley Trevelyan (her long-time penfriend and confidante) and his brother George Macaulay Trevelyan. Her husband obtained only the usufruct of Isola Bella, the Hallington Siculo, and the plots on mt. Venere, which after his death, would have gone to his wife's English relations. Florence's heirs had to follow strict rules, all devoted to the preservation of the flora and fauna which inhabited those places. And so, the peacocks, goats, doves, canaries, and so on, which had been a great company for her in those past years, had to live in health and comfort, tended with cure and love. As for the vegetation, nobody was allowed to work the land, cut any tree, or build houses. Salvatore soon remarried with his maid Ida Mosca, and adopted his young nephew Cesare Acrosso, who will later become a lawyer and the last fascist mayor of Taormina. Taking care of his first wife's properties soon became for Mr Cacciola a real hassle. In order to get free from this, in 1923 he asked for his nephew's aid and got in touch with his political enemy Giovanni Colonna, Duke of Cesarò (Acrosso was his secretary). In exchange for his political retirement, Cacciola obtained that the Hallington Siculo was expropriated for "public interest". The garden became then property of the town of Taormina, was dismembered, reduced to a quarter of its original size, and renamed "Parco Giovanni Colonna Duca di Cesarò". On February 19th 2019, thanks to a municipal decision, it changed again its name, becoming "Parco Florence Trevelyan", finally giving her original owner and curator the proper recognition.

As for Isola Bella, at Salvatore Cacciola's death in 1927, it was inherited by Cesare Acrosso (alongside with Cacciola's palace), who will sell it in 1954 to Leone and Emilio Bosurgi. The two businessmen brothers, disregarding Florence Trevelyan's will and wishes, built 12 individual homes, plus a small pool perfectly camouflaged between rocks and vegetation, to accommodate and entertain friends and clients. When their firm went bankrupt in the 80s, they were forced to auction off the islet. In 1990 Isola Bella was finally bought by the Sicilian Region, which transformed it into a wildlife reserve, reverting back to what Florence had intended.

Every year, on October 4th, a small ceremonial is held before a bust portraying Mrs Trevelyan in her dedicated park. It's a commemoration open to all of those wishes to remember and thank a woman who did so much for Taormina in her time, and left a lot to the future generations.

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