The Minchella Sisters

In the small South Lanarkshire town of Lanark, Maria Rosa Minchella was the first child born to Italian parents. In 1907, at nine years old, she was chosen by her classmates to reign as Lanimer Queen during the Lanimer Festival – one of Scotland’s oldest traditions, celebrating the town’s thousand-year status as a royal burgh. The Minchella family played a prominent role in Lanark’s local life: at the town’s first cinema, the McAndrews Electric Theatre, sister Carrie – or Carolina – played piano for silent films, while brother Angelo was made a Burgess of Lanark after serving in the Italian army in the First World War.  

The family’s presence in Lanark dates back to 1894 when Stefano Minchella and Francesca Deplacito, husband and wife, settled in the town and opened a confectionery business. Today, the initials SM can still be seen above their original shop. They appear to have enjoyed relative prosperity, being among Lanark’s first car owners, with a 5hp Rexette. Yet the public-facing role of shop owner brought its own challenges. In 1898, Stefino was assaulted and his shop trashed by a customer, and in 1913 Francesca was charged for keeping the shop open on a Sunday – part of wider tensions over Italian businesses operating under civic bylaws and the importance of the Sabbath for Scotland’s Protestant population.  

After Stefano – who had anglicized his name to Stephen – died in 1917 at just 47, Francesca ran the shop until her death in 1931. The children eventually moved to Glasgow, where Angelo and Carrie settled with their families, while Rosa never married.  

Set against a neutral backdrop that strips away the sense of place, these portraits focus solely on the two girls – their facial expressions, posed postures, and refined attire. They are captured in a moment removed from everyday life. The symbolic objects they hold – Rosa’s ceremonial staff and Carrie’s white rose – function as performative markers of regality and femininity.