British-Italian orientalist; she was born in Porto-San-Giorgio, Italy, 30 June 1923, daughter of Gino N., an artist, journalist, and art dealer, and Elvira Petrelli; she was brought up in Australia and attended the University of Melbourne and taught at the University of Sydney; she then returned to Italy to finish her education at the University of Perugia where she studied archaeology and the University of Florence; Dr. Letters, 1965; she settled in Oxford and devoted her considerable energy to Egyptological studies; she published numerous articles, pamphlets, and books espousing unorthodox views on Asiatic settlements and the Delta region; she encouraged excavation in the Delta al though the results often disproved her theories; she also wrote on technical subjects including anchors, bellows, and shields; she was the founder and editor of Discussions in Egyptology in 1985; she died in Oxford, 15 Jan. 2007.