Elizabeth Phelps Resse

Elizabeth Woodbridge Pearsall Phelps Resse was an American philanthropist and composer born in 1838. She married Count Pio Resse in 1877, with whom she had acquired Il Palmerino and several other estates in Florence.

Previously she had been married to Robert W. Pearsall, during which period she showed her feminist intentions by establishing the first agricultural school for women in Long Island. This type of social engagement came as no surprise, since she was born to a mother, Elizabeth B. Phelps, who was a prominent figure in the early days of club movement.

She was an accomplished composer, and her music cycle named Two Songs was successful. A written legacy of her thoughts on music is left behind her, and during her life she remained personal friends with notable composers of the period, such as Franz Liszt.

By marriage to Count Pio Resse, she gained the title of a Countess. At the time, she split her time between Rome and Florence, actively participating in the philanthropist social scene. The couple acquired multiple properties in Florence, and there is no evidence that they ever permanently lived at Il Palmerino. Nonetheless, they are the ones who conducted the restoration led by Corinto Corinti and which was celebrated on February 24, 1884 with an inaugural ceremony as reflected in the invitations branched and printed in Paris at A. Serin, most likely the work of collaborator Henry Somm (pseudonym of Francois Clement Sommier, 1844-1907).

In 1889 the couple started renting the property to Vernon Lee and her family, although they were not the ones who sold it to her. The last owner before Vernon Lee bought Il Palmerino in 1906 was Oreste Loni.

Elizabeth Woodbridge Pearsall Phelps Resse died in 1924. The University of Minnesota Libraries holds the Elizabeth Woodbridge Phelps Pearsall Resse papers (1880-1924) as her legacy.