Sabina Vela-Dragoni

Cornelia Sabina Dragoni was born in the Beveradora farmhouse in the territory of Corpi Santi di Milano, the youngest of seven children of Angelo Dragoni, an accountant, and Livia Acerbi. At the time, her father was the farmer of the Beveradora and Benzona estates belonging to the Luoghi pii elemosinieri of Milan, an institution for poor relief. Several years earlier, he had come into contact with Baron Bartolomeo Pergami della Franchina—a favored associate of Caroline of Brunswick—whom he later followed as an agent during his travels throughout the Italian peninsula. As administrators of lands and agricultural estates with substantial cultural backgrounds, the Dragoni family were among the members of the emerging bourgeoisie. Sabina Dragoni grew up in a nonconformist and politically engaged environment: her father openly professed republican faith, and her brothers Bruto and Regolo fought on the front lines during the battles for Italian independence.^[1]

According to Romeo Manzoni, author of one of the first monographs on Vincenzo Vela, Sabina Dragoni met the artist in the Milan workshop of his master Benedetto Cacciatori, where she posed as a model. This encounter, in the 1840s, led to a relationship that strengthened over the years, facilitated by shared ideals of the Risorgimento and their common desire for Lombardy's independence from Austrian rule. When Vela decided to settle in Turin in 1853, following his refusal of an honorary position as an artist member of the Brera Academy—which resulted in his expulsion from Lombardy and a brief stay in Ticino—Sabina Dragoni joined him and settled with him in the Vanchiglia district. They married on 21 February 1853. Their only son, Spartaco Vela, was born the following year.^[2] Lorenzo Vela, a specialist in ornamental sculpture, was Sabina's brother-in-law.^[1]