i want to know about don simones aspirations and outlook as a child. also curious about why he became not healthy in his twenties but slightly afraid of being moved by the answer
More about Don Simone's childhood 🐌
For convenience's sake I shall refer to him as Simonino, what he was referred to as by his mama when he was little.
Simonino was the only child born into a very, very wealthy noble family and he was raised with an abundance of privilege and comfort, practically receiving anything he could ask for and more. Of course, things can still be a bit tricky for properly spoiled noble boys. He had a rather awkward relationship with his father.
His father, Don Giovanni (aka John Dad, but I myself am not entirely used to this hefty name choice yet so I will simply be referring to him as Papa in this post, forgive me) did want children, but I suppose when he had his son he realised that he wasn't all that sure about how to approach one. Little Simonino was a very active, very keen on playing, exploring and above all misbehaving, and Papa simply did not really know how to handle such a boy –perhaps not what he imagined having children would go like. Simonino was especially insistent on tricking whoever was holding his dress' leading strings in different ways so that he could run off, most often to the gardens to play in the mud and absolutely ruin his attire by rubbing it all over himself or playing with snails.
Due to this, Simonino was unbreeched for a little bit longer than other kids of the time. Here he is, still unbreeched hehe
Once he was finally breeched, his father started teaching him how to hunt as a way to try and bond with his child. Surprisingly, Simonino was rather alright at it. It was one of the only things that would get him to focus on what's been told to him to do, and he wasn't half bad. After finally getting a taste of what it feels like to be at least on a similar page with his son, Papa perhaps made some rash decisions about Simonino's hunting training, causing a pretty big fowling piece related accident. I cannot say 'no one was harmed', but little Simonino wasn't, at least not physically. I will most definitely be elaborating on this specific incident further in another post, so I will just leave it at this for now. This incident damaged him and his Papa's relationship quite harshly, and his dad ended up leaving any hunting related training entirely to the gamekeeprs, huntsmen and other staff. Once again I am bad with specific ages, but he might have been around 12 years old when this happened.
A joy that came alongside his breeching was his relationship with dogs! As an unbreeched boy, he very often enjoyed playing with his dad's two italian Bracco dogs, dogs his dad did not view as 'family pets' but rather HIS hunting dogs. He believed that Simonino's affection for them would soften them, therefore almost as soon as his son was breeched, the boy recieved a dog of his own. A Cirneco Dell'Etna puppy. He was strictly encouraged by his father to to train it rather than only play with it, which was one of the other things he seemed to be able to absolutely give his all and actually put effort into. This kickstarted his love for dog draining which was something he continued to do until his older ages, he often had multiple dogs, never less than two at once. He also trained dogs for his friends later in life.
I know this is getting so long,,, my apologies ;;; but now I talk a bit about the biggest drive in his life,, his love for art.
He was eternally fascinated by all things relating to art or artists from a very very early age, possibly caused by an incident regarding a painter his parents comissioned when he was very younger, something I shall be elaborating on later– but perhaps one of the only ways to get this child to sit still at all was to have his portrait painted. He loved the process, the finished product, and above everything being the focal point. He deeply enjoyed seeing how he was portrayed by different artists, how he was looked at by the painter all throughout the process, how the artists would snap into their 'work mode' as soon as they'd step in front of the canvas and all the customary politeness that was to be given to a nobleman (like his father, or later in life,, like himself) would fade off of them– all of it. His love for art, artists and his passion for being painted quickly became one of the driving forces in his life. I should probably also make an alot longer post specifically about this also 🤧
Tw for light mentions of abuse and child neglect in this next part, again very light but just disclosing for safety
Basically he was a very outgoing, active, social child that grew up very isolated under the care of mostly his mama, private tutors and valets, and barely any socialisation with other children. This later on caused his social life to be malformed in many ways. The more he grew up the more he acted out, and the more distant his relationship became with his papa, often earning himself beatings from the man's cane. (Pretty standard for the era, but ouchie).
Things continued in such ways until he was in his mid to late teens, when his family moved from Bologna (his birthplace!) to Rome (where he lived the rest of his life). Of course, with this grand new beginning, things changed entirely and the already hard to control little Simonino became an almost entirely uncontrollable young Don Simone.
Ah this is so all over the place I deeply apologise!! Perhaps I shall cut it here and the rest of your ask should have its very own post, for his socialisation during his youth spent in Rome is the main reason of his health deteriorating as well, and this is already so very long..
Sorry for basically making a really long post and half of it is just me saying "well this needs its own seperate post" and not elaborating 💔 there is just so much to him..
Thank you so much for the ask 🩵
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