AND Ornella Vanoni died at the age of 91, suffering a heart attack in her home in Milan around 11pm on Friday 21 November. From Giorgio Strehler’s muse to love with Gino Paoli, she was a sophisticated interpreter of timeless songs, with a multifaceted repertoire and an unmistakable vocality. Elegant femininity and intense sensuality, a true diva and indisputable protagonist of an unrepeatable season of theater and of Italian pop music. He has collaborated with excellent names such as Toquinho, Franco Califano, Mahmood.
Ornella Vanoni died, from childhood to Strehler
Born in Milan in 1934 in a wealthy family of pharmaceutical industrialists. Despite some health problems, hers was a peaceful and comfortable childhood, among German nannies and an upper-middle-class education. Although he hates studying, he attends prestigious schools in Italy and abroad to learn languages but her desire is to become a beautician. She returned home without a precise idea of her future, on the advice of a friend of her mother he enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Art of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.
This choice, born almost as a joke, literally turns her life upside down. He follows Giorgio Strehler’s lessons, with whom he begins an intense and complicated relationship. This bond creates strong conflicts with the family. «Our love story created a scandal: he was much older and married. I was mistreated for this relationship.” Strehler notes not only her sensuality and unconventional beauty but great musical talent.
Ornella Vanoni dies, The girl from the underworld
He constructs a role for her in a recital giving her great success. Ornella Vanoni thus becomes “the girl of the underworld”, a singer with a sophisticated voice with a repertoire of ballads and dialect songs whose protagonists are thieves, swindlers and colorful characters. Their love is destined to end two years later due to the tempestuous character of the great director, his infidelities and his well-known addiction to cocaine.
In his biography A beautiful girlOrnella Vanoni says she used this substance. “To be with a man who takes it for years, either you take it too or you can’t stay there.” «If your man takes cocaine, you can’t scold him every time. Either you catch up, or it all ends.” Vanoni says Strehler continued to look for her for yearsbegging her to get back together. The interruption of the relationship also occurs with the entire Piccolo Teatro environment. The singer is now tired of the songs of the mob and looks for a different repertoire, more congenial to her.
Ornella Vanoni young actress in 1955 (Getty Images)
Gino Paoli, marriage and endless love
In the early sixties, during a recording at the record company Memories, he meets Gino Paoli and is immediately struck by love at first sight. Love and above all a prolific artistic collaboration was born between them. For her, Paoli writes Endless, which becomes a huge success. This relationship is also not free from problems and great moments of tension.
Ornella lives in Rome, Paoli in Genoa and they call each other every day from a telephone booth, consuming an avalanche of tokens. The singer-songwriter is married but is also a serial cheater. She becomes pregnant but is unable to carry on with the pregnancy. The situation, already complex, transcends when Paoli’s wife begs her to leave him because without him he cannot live. The artist decides like this, reluctantly, to close a story that made her suffer so much.
In the same year, he met the theater impresario Lucio Ardenzi, 10 years older. Although I still think of the Genoese singer, accepts his marriage proposal. «I was very confused. I went to the altar dressed in yellow and thinking of Gino Paoli who I loved. The night before I wanted to screw everything up and run away. But all my friends told me: “It can’t be done, you can’t, you have to get married tomorrow morning”.
Theirs is not a happy union. In him, she finds stability and balance after two intense and painful loves. Together with her husband she continues her theatrical career. She is the protagonist of The idiot of the French playwright Marcel Achad. His interpretation conquers audiences and critics. Garinei & Giovannini gave her the role of Rosetta in the musical Rugantino.
Ornella Vanoni and Gino Paoli (Luciano Viti/Getty Images)
Private life, who is Cristiano’s son
Cristiano was born in 1962, their only son. Despite a life in the limelight, the singer has always chosen to keep him away from the spotlight. Very little is known about him but in interviews, Ornella Vanoni has never hidden that she had a complicated relationship with him due to his notoriety and life as a wanderer. In 2002, the year of her ex-husband’s death, the singer wanted to remember him by publishing a letter in Corriere della Sera complete with a loving dedication to their son.
«This evening I will do the show that I have to do and it will be a show within a show, that of life, which we must perform at our best as long as we have the strength to represent it. And then there is Cristiano, our son, for whom I thank you.” A much more affectionate and traditional bond is that with the two grandchildren, Matteo and Camilla, source of great joy and serenity. For the two of them, she calls herself the best grandmother in the world.
The Sanremo Festival and the most beautiful songs
Between 1965 and 2018, Ornella Vanoni has participated in the Sanremo Festival 8 times. Although he never achieved victory, his performances left their mark as did his songs. It is first noticed with I will give you more (1966) Paired with Orietta Berti. The following year he participated with the marvellous The music is over, written for her by Franco Califano and Umberto Bindi.
His last appearance in the Sanremo race was with Learn to love yourself, with which he won the Sergio Endrigo award for best interpretation. Equipped with a clear voice with a wide range, his performances are supported by a stage presence and rare elegance. From pop music to pop, from jazz to Bossa Nova, boasts a multifaceted musical repertoire.
A poignant love story with The appointmentin which you can feel all the melancholy energy of the original Portuguese song. Desire, madness, unconsciousness, joy, born in collaboration with the singer-songwriter Vinícius de Moraes and the guitarist Toquinho, is an immersion in Brazilian sounds. There is no shortage of black influences with Herbie Hancock and George Benson with the album Ornella &….
Ornella Vanoni with Alessandro Preziosi at the Sanremo Festival 2018 (LaPresse)
The (fake) rivalry with Mina, the friendship with Lucio Dalla and Pasolini
In the life of the singer, friendship has always played a leading role. There are many anecdotes about his excellent knowledge like the one with Mina. For years, the newspapers fueled a non-existent rivalry between the two red-haired stars. Despite some disagreements due to not participating together in a television program, there has always been a beautiful friendship between them.
In an interview with The barbarian invasions by Daria Bignardi, said that the “Tiger of Cremona” tried several times to teach her to play poker but never succeeded.
She felt a deep love for the writer Pier Paolo Pasolinia very strong bond. The singer has always defended him from political attacks from the left and the right.
In common with Lucio Dalla, in addition to a wonderful friendship, there was the same sense of humor And the slightly melancholic gaze on the world. «He was a crazy talent. Vocally he did what he wanted, the music he wrote was wonderful. The lyrics have a deep sad sweetness, and are full of irony.”
Illness and loss of assets
The singer he has repeatedly confessed to having suffered from stage fright. Performing in front of an audience has always brought her a lot of anxiety. A sensation that accompanied her for a long time and that she managed to dominate only after the age of 30. Depression, Instead, he hit her 3 times in her prime. An illness described as dark, solitary, so much so that he didn’t leave the house for almost a year.
It took away her sleep and made her hair fall out. Healing came thanks to drug therapy and the help of a good psychiatrist. The economic situation also gave her many worries due to some cheating on the part of entrepreneurs and poor management of money. «I was always alone in my choices; and I threw the money away. I bought a house, furnished it, then saw that no one was coming to visit me, not even my son, and I resold it, maybe at half the price.”
Ornella Vanoni in the film “7 women and a mystery”
The last years in television and again in music
Despite his undoubted acting talent, Italian cinema hasn’t offered her many roles in which to shine. The rescue takes place after the age of eighty: in 2015 Alessandro Genovesi directs it in But what a nice surprise alongside Claudio Bisio and Valentina Ludovini. He will call her back in 2021 For 7 women and a mystery, remake of the French 8 females by François Ozon, with an all-female cast. Since 2024 he has been a regular guest at What’s the weather like? and was the protagonist at the Arcimboldi Theatre Of Endlessa concert event to celebrate his long and happy career.