By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ms. Orton

EAST WALNUT HILLS - Eleanora Castaldi Orton, a native of Rome and patron of the arts, died here Saturday of cancer at the home of her daughter, Robin Orton Sinclaire. Ms. Orton, 83, lived in East Walnut Hills and Rome.

Known to her friends as "Nori," she came to Cincinnati via New York City in 1947.

"She met my father in Rome," said her son J. Robert "Eddie" Orton of Piedmont, Calif. "They were both working for an organization called the United Nations Refugee Agency. They met there and fell in love."

She wed J. Robert Orton Jr. in Italy during World War II. Mr. Orton returned to his native Cincinnati first, and his bride followed.

Ms. Orton graduated from the prestigious Tasso School in Rome. "She grew up in pre-war Italy and learned basically what all the girls learned, which was the household arts," her son said. "She could sew and knit and make pasta. She ran an Italian household.

"She was very involved with the Italian community in Cincinnati - particularly the community that surrounded the CCM and the opera. Her home was always a destination for opera stars of the day - to come for drinks and party and music at our home for years and years and years."

Her close friend Joan Fox of Mount Adams said: "She was the most beautiful and sophisticated woman I had ever seen. She was a fierce iconoclast and a brilliant wit."

In addition to her son and daughter, survivors include: another son, Piero Melchiorri of Norwalk, Conn.; her former husband, who lives in LaJolla, Calif.; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

Mrs. Orton requested no funeral, but there will be a private celebration of her life at her daughter's home.

Memorials: Hospice of Cincinnati, 4310 Cooper Road, Cincinnati 45242.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com