The ballet dancer Violetta Elvin retained her glamour and poise throughout her life. My family were regular visitors in the 1960s and 70s at the hotel, across the Bay of Naples from Vesuvius, run by her ebullient Italian husband Fernando, and continued to meet them for many years.
The hotel had a private beach; Violetta’s daily routine included swimming and exercising. To see her making her elegant way down to the sea offered an unforgettable contrast between the recumbent bodies of sunbathing holiday-makers, and the “poise, grace and all the special qualities that belong to the Russian ballet”.
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