Marianne Ryley

Marianne Ryley (photograph: Val Adamson) lives in Durban on the East Coast of South Africa with her husband, Dave de Klerk. Her professional background is rooted in various formats of publishing – books, magazines and tourist publications. The first inspiration for Pintorella was a cheeky little mouse that raced across the kitchen floor in an old farmhouse in the beautiful KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, South Africa, where Marianne grew up. After a visit to the picturesque city of Siena in Tuscany many years later, the mouse’s story was reimagined within the traditional horse race of the Palio, and “Racing for PIntorella” was born.