Niccolo d'Ardia Caracciolo was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1941, the only son of Ferdinando Caracciolo, Prince of Cursi. His mother was a Fitzgerald of The Island, near Waterford [now Waterford Castle], where he was reared. The medieval castle was the seat of his mother's family, the Fitzgeralds, who first came to Ireland in the Norman invasion of 1160. The Italian title came from his father who belonged to a very old Neapolitan family whose title, Principe di Cursi, can be traced back to 1165 and that of Duca di Grottaglie to 1660.

Niccolo was educated in England at the Oratory School, Reading, from where he went to Florence to study art after Pietro Annigoni had seen a sample of his work in London a...