 "Carla Maria Concetta Francesca Malagola, Contessa Cappi" was the elder daughter of the Italian Count Guido Malagola Cappi and his wife, Alexandra (née Dunbar-Marshall) who had come over with her mother from Natchez, Mississippi to settle in Europe.She was born in Paris, and grew up in Venice, where her paternal grandfather Professor Carlo Malagola of Bologna kept the archives at the Frari basilica, and then in Rome.Her father was an interior designer and a talented photographer.