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Thank you to everyone who participated yesterday <3

I sadly couldn’t post everything I had planned (due to my awful time management skills and me suffering from allergies throughout the day), so I was glad to see that it wasn’t just me participating in this event :D

I will probably post some of the stuff I didn’t finish at a later point, and everyone who didn’t have time or missed the event is more than welcome to do so as well. I will keep checking the tag and the AO3 collection will remain open for the rest of the year.

Hope everyone had fun! Maybe see you again next year ;)

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The most notorious opera singer in all of London

For Siena Rosso Appreciation day 2025 <3

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'1797 - A Grandmother's Tale'

Fandom: Bridgerton Characters: Siena Rosso Rating: T Warning: Minor mention of domestic violence. Words: 2.1k Summary: Ten-year-old Siena finally learns about her grandmother’s past.

-> You can also read it on AO3

Siena was walking next to her mother, leaving the church. They rarely ever visited the church. Christmas and Easter were exceptions – as was today. Because today was Siena’s late grandmother’s birthday.

Siena had been quite young when her grandmother had died – barely five years old. But she remembered her as a pretty stout and strict woman. And she remembered her and her mother constantly arguing. And even after her death, Siena only ever heard her mother complain about her. But still, she went to church every year on her birthday.

Siena’s mother was mostly damning her own mother, because she believed that she had been hiding money from them – preventing them from a decent life.

Her grandmother had never liked talking about her past. She had apparently left Italy when Siena’s mother had still been an infant. That was all Siena knew. And her curious questions were never answer. Yet her mother was certain that her grandmother must come from money – after all, she had been too well educated. And according to her mother’s words, she used to have quite expensive jewellery in her possession.

All of that jewellery was long gone now; sold during tough times. Siena had never seen it. And from what she remembered of her grandmother, she had never appeared like a rich lady. Though, in the end, Siena had never truly talked to a rich lady before. But she had seen them and their expensive dresses and graceful behaviour. Her grandmother had never looked like that.

“Why did grandma leave Italy?” Siena asked suddenly as they were walking along the street. She had asked that question a million times before, but perhaps today was her lucky day.

Or maybe not – as she heard her mother sigh in annoyance.

“Because she wanted to.”

“But you said she was rich,” Siena continued, not yet ready to give up. She was already ten years old, after all. She was not that easily discouraged anymore. “Why would she leave all that money behind?”

Siena had seen how those wealthy people lived. It was quite difficult to imagine a reason to give up on that.

Again, her mother sighed. But then, something curious happened.

She halted, looking down at Siena – examining her for a moment until she mumbled, “Well, I guess you’re old enough...”

She turned around again, continuing their way home and hastily, Siena went after her, excited to finally learn the truth.

“Your grandmother has never shared much about her past – not even with me,” her mother said then, not looking at Siena. “She did occasionally talk about her own parents – about the house they owned in Napoli; the summers they have spent by the seaside; and her two younger sisters she would’ve loved to see again. Yet she rarely talked about my father,” she continued. “Only ever mentioning him as a warning – that we could never return to the life we once had.”

“Why?” Siena asked, surprised.

Now, her mother looked at her again. A small smile appeared on her face as she halted – kneeling down to take her hands.

“Your grandfather was a bad man,” she told her. “So awful, that your grandmother saw no other choice than to leave the country.”

“Did he beat her?” Siena asked, her eyes wide. She had witnessed husbands beating their wives before.

“He was a quite violent man, yes.”

Siena eyed her mother curiously. There was no smile on her face anymore.

“So violent that she had to leave everything behind?” Her mother nodded. “But you still wish she would’ve told you about her family?”

“Well, he might be dead by now,” her mother replied, standing back up again and taking Siena’s hand as they continued their walk back home. “And she always talked fondly about her own family. I would’ve surely liked to know if there’s some money left for us. But I don’t even know her family name.”

“Is Rosso not her real name?” Siena asked confused.

Her mother gave her a smile. “Oh no,” she replied, putting an arm around her shoulder. “She made that up when she came here.”

“So my name is false?” Siena continued asking, shock in her voice.

Her mother chuckled. “It’s the only name you and I have ever known – I would not call it false. And you should hold onto it. Unless, of course, a gentleman proposes to you,” she added quickly. “Please feel free to give it up then. No name would be worth such a foolish decision.”

Siena nodded, looking down.

“But not if that man is like my grandfather, right?”

Again, her mother halted – and Siena carefully looked up at her again.

“Of course not,” she replied gently, brushing across her shoulder. “Never consort with a man like that – no matter how rich. There are decent men out there. Not plenty, but you will find them.”

“And what about my father?” Siena asked then, biting her lips. “Was he also a bad man?”

At that, her mother faced the road again – taking her by the hand as they turned around the corner to the entry of their flat.

“Not like that,” she replied eventually. “He was just … quite fond of leaving.”

When they arrived at the door, her mother turned back towards her – now a smile on her face again.

“But don’t worry about him,” she told Siena. “We are fine on our own.”

She opened the door then and stepped inside as Siena quietly followed her. She was right. They were fine. Perhaps marriage was not that great after all. Those sweet fairy tales made it sound beautiful, but life was not a fairy tale. Her mother surely did not expect for her to marry. She had always told Siena that her focus should be on becoming a successful opera singer and finding a decent gentleman to provide for her. Though, those gentlemen could be heroes as well. And maybe – if she found that hero – marriage might not be such a dreary thought after all.  

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Reflections on the Life and Times of Siena Rosso

Fitzrovia, 1871

Siena cast her eyes over the rooftops of London. A lot had changed in this city since she had first moved here when she was eighteen and fresh from the Devon port city where she had spent the better part of her teenage years. 

Her mother had come from Plymouth and her father was a sailor from Ancona. Siena had been the unlikely product of an even unlikelier marriage. But married they had and Siena had grown up between Italy and England as her parents flitted between the two. That was until she was fourteen and both her parents were lost to the sea and she had been sent to live with her mother’s sister. 

That had been a rocky situation. Her aunt meant well but they were such polar opposites. Things had been challenging there at the best of times. And after a few years, the best of times were over and the last of her family in Plymouth was gone. Eighteen years old and with only a little money to her name, Siena made a gamble on the one thing she knew she could do better than almost anyone else. Sing. She moved to London, half-terrified and half-exhilarated beyond belief, rattling away in the back of a stagecoach along with a ragtag band of misfits and miscreants.

She spent nine years flitting around between London and the other great opera capitals of Europe. Finding a gentleman to protect her along the way. None of them ever lasted over those nine years. She hadn’t really wanted them to, anyway.

At twenty-seven, she had had no choice but to break his heart. He had been a viscount, one of several lords she had been involved with over the years. But that viscount, he had been the most standout of them all. Even if he was a master of disaster when push came to shove. Part of her had wanted to stay with him forever. But she knew she had to break his heart for both their sakes.

Afterwards, she found love with a mid-ranking composer by the name of Theodore Price. She never married him. Partly because he could never get a divorce from his wife. Being a member of the lower gentry, he would never have been able to afford the necessary act of parliament. But also because the Married Women’s Property Act of 1870 wasn’t passed during his lifetime and Siena had never wanted to give up what little independence she had for the sake of a piece of paper. Nonetheless, theirs was a relationship that lasted decades. For the rest of Theodore’s life, in fact. She knew that one day she would be reunited with him again.

When she had moved to London, one of the first friends she had made was Genevieve Delacroix. The finest modiste in London when she was at her height. That had been a friendship that had lasted for decades, until Genevieve left this mortal coil at the ripe old age of eighty-one. Siena quirked her lip to think of what Genevieve would say about the fashions these days.

Siena turned away from the window. With every passing winter, the cold bit harsher and sharper at her bones. She didn’t predict that she would see many more summers. Maybe two or three at the most. She would much rather spend them somewhere warmer, rather than remain in this city of ghosts. She still had relatives in Ancona. Once it was part of the Papal States, but now with Italian unification it was part of the new nation of Garibaldi’s vision. She used to go there every other year with Theodore for a few months to get away from the freezing London winters. Yes, she would go back to Ancona and live out the rest of her days in the warm Mediterranean light, surrounded by her father’s people.

It had been a good life. A difficult one at times. But a good life nonetheless.

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SABRINA BARTLETT as SIENA ROSSO in Bridgerton season one

-> for Siena Rosso Appreciation Day 2025

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TOMORROW!

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EVERY SIENA SCENE - 2/?

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ONE WEEK!

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This blog invites you to the very first Siena Appreciation Day!

Any form of creativity is welcome – be it fanfics, gifsets, moodboards, analyses etc. There’s no limit to your imagination!

How to participate:

On Tumblr, simply tag your posts using #sienarossoday25 (alternatively, you can also mention this blog)

On AO3, you can submit your fanfics to the event collection.

Be kind and have fun!

The AO3 collection opens today and will remain open for the rest of the year.

Need some inspiration? While there’s no theme for this event, here’s a list of simple prompts you can use if you like.

Got any questions? Check out the FAQ list or simply send a message!

See you June 1st! <3

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Celebrating the one and only Siena Rosso 💗

Save the date: Siena Appreciation Day will take place June 1st!

(more info coming soon)

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Did some brainstorming for the Siena Appreciation Day event and thought I might share the process so far:

I’m still planning for the event to take place June 1st, but I’ll wait a bit longer before announcing it, just to make sure that my schedule is clear. I will probably make a pre-announcement post once I settled on a date.

If I stick to June 1st, I will make a proper announcement for the event on May 18th. That will be enough time for people to prepare and to get the word out, but it’s not too long in advance for people to forget about it again.

I will also open the AO3 collection that day and plan to keep the collection open until the end of the year.

The collection will be moderated and I will set a couple rules for the entire event, which are mostly just meant to limit hate and harassment. I obviously hope that the event will be peaceful and I don’t want to scare people off, but considering the nasty stuff I constantly receive by a certain part of this fandom, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I will also stick to only promoting the event on Tumblr (and maybe AO3), so it hopefully won’t leave the target audience. Everyone else is free to share it, though :)

I’ve also already planned some stuff to post that day (fics, gifs and a costume analysis I’ve been working on for a while). You’re free to send me prompts for that day as well, if you can’t/don’t want to participate, but still got some nice ideas :)

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Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in “Capital R Rake” (Bridgerton - 2x01)

Gifs 135/?

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SABRINA BARTLETT behind the scenes of BRIDGERTON season 1 episode 8

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Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton ― 1.01 Diamond of the First Water

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list of SIENA'S COSTUMES:

-> the red dress at the Gentlemen's Club in 1.03

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It’s been exactly one year since I created this blog and I just wanted to say how happy it makes me to see that people are still enjoying it <3

When season three was released last year, I noticed a couple new people in my notes who were going through my blog after watching the show for the first time – and it honestly made me incredibly happy, because this is exactly why I decided to create an archive blog for Siena.

When I first watched Bridgerton and fell in love with her character, it had already been two years since the first season aired and barely anyone was still posting about her (besides me). And because it was pretty exhausting to constantly dig through tumblr to find old posts about her, I eventually got the idea for this blog. And it’s amazing to see that people are actually interested :)

I still have many gifsets planned and I will continue to queue all previously shared gifs as well. I definitely intent for this blog to have a long-lasting future <3